Cong allegations over AK-47 purchase baseless: BJP

BJP accused Congress of levelling baseless allegations of corruption over purchase of AK-47 rifles by NDA, saying "their statements reflected their frustration".

The BJP on Tuesday accused the Congress of levelling baseless allegations of corruption in the purchase of AK-47 assault rifles by the NDA Government, saying that "their statements reflected their frustration".

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Reacting to Congress's demand for a probe into the matter by a sitting Supreme Court judge, BJP Vice President Bal Apte said the party was levelling allegations without even knowing the facts about the purchase.

"They even do not know that it is not a Rs 20,000 crore purchase and their charges of corruption are without any basis. The entire deal has been done on the basis of recommendations by a Technical Committee and everything is entirely transparent," he told reporters in Chandigarh.

Accusing the Congress of "trivialising the election campaign", he said they had no issue to raise.

"When we say that India's highest offices should be held by a person who has been born in this country, they accuse us of raking up the foreign origin issue (of Sonia Gandhi). Instead of joining us in a debate on this, they accuse Deputy Prime Minister LK Advani of being a foreigner. It seems their history is weak and they are not aware that Advani was born what was then a part of India," he said.

Apte, who was in Chandigarh in connection with celebration of BJP's foundation day on Tueday, said the party favoured consensus on the issue of construction of Ram Temple at Ayodhya. "The whole thing is being unnecessarily politicised. We are in favour of a consensus on the issue. After all, the issue of construction of Ram Temple at its original place is the question of faith of millions of Indians," he added.