Govt revising Ishrat affidavit after Cong defeat in Guj polls

BJP said Centre's proposal to submit a revised affidavit in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case was triggered by anti-Narendra Modi feelings after Congress performed badly in recent by-polls in Gujarat.

BJP on Wednesday said Centre's proposal to submit a revised affidavit in the Ishrat Jahan fake encounter case was triggered by anti-Narendra Modi feelings after Congress performed badly in recent by-polls in Gujarat.

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"What is being proposed by Home Minister (P Chidambaram) in the Ishrat Jahan case is based on anti-Narendra Modi feelings after the defeat of Congress in recent assembly by-elections in Gujarat," BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said.

Rudy termed the reported intention of Chidambaram to file a fresh affidavit superseding the earlier Home Ministry one as an attempt at minority appeasement after Congress lost five of the seven assembly seats which went to polls recently.

Ishrat Jahan, her friend Javed Ghulam Sheikh and two alleged Pakistani terrorists were allegedly shot dead in an encounter by Gujarat police in 2004, reportedly on a tip-off from central intelligence agencies that they were planning to target the Chief Minister.

"The Lashkar-e-Taiba had said on its official website that the four were their agents. Why is the central government trying to prove they were not LeT members?" Rudy asked.

Stating that an affidavit is a sworn statement given under oath, the BJP MP asked if the government had earlier submitted a "false affidavit".