George Fernandes contradicts Advani's claim

Advani's My Country, My Life has created flutter in political galleries after George Fernandes claimed that the then Home Minister in Vajpayee government was very much aware of the Jaswant Singh accompanying the terrorist during Kandahar hijack in 1999.

Janata Dal (United) leader George Fernandes contended Advani’s allegation during CNN IBN’s ‘Devil's Advocate’ that the decision was taken after discussing with all the senior ministers and that all ministers were aware that Jaswant Singh was escorting terrorist.

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George kept on insisting that the decision was supported by all the senior ministers in the party and that he is sure that all of them were present including Advani.

But the controversy did not end here and Blackwill in another TV interview gave jolt to Advani’s remark that he asked help from America and he contacted the then US Ambassador Robert Blackwill in this regard.

Blackwill while refuting the charges said that he was in the US during Kandahar episode and he only came to India after two years of the hijack and clarified that it was not him but his predecessor Richard Celeste to whom Advani might have discussed the issue.

He said, “But, of course, it was 1999 and it was the Clinton administration. I was at the Harvard during that time.”

“I take it that is the case. But not in the essence of what he did in frustration,” he added when being asked if Advani got the name wrong in his memoire.

Advani’s traced 60 years of his journey in his biographical book and since its release it is making news sometime for the controversial statement in his book and sometime for gifting the book to Sonia Gandhi, the Congress President on Holi.

Advani in his book has mentioned that he was not aware of Jaswant Singh escorting the terrorist and claimed that he was disappointed when the US did not even try to help India during the hijack crisis despite him seeking assistance from ambassador Blackwill.

Advani could not have imagined that the book released at this time to push forward his candidature as Prime Minister would lend him such troubles. Mentioning Blackwill in the scene when he was not at all there surfaces the mistakes which are too big to avoid.