Sonia questions BJP's 'nation first' claim

Seeking to puncture BJP's "nation first" plank, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said the saffron party does not have anybody who has become martyr for the sake of the country.

Seeking to puncture BJP's "nation first" plank, Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Wednesday said the saffron party does not have anybody who has become martyr for the sake of the country.

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"Do you have any leader who laid down his or her life (for the sake of the country)?" Gandhi said, directing her question to BJP, while addressing an election rally here.

Dismissing BJP's allegations that Congress was soft on terror, she told voters that when L K Advani was the Home Minister during the NDA government, three dreaded terrorists were released in Afghanistan.

One of them was the main accused in the Parliament attack later on, Gandhi added.

Taking potshots at the saffron party, the Congress chief accused governments headed by BJP in various states of not spending Central funds allocated to them for various development schemes.

BJP has always been boasting that "nation first" is the policy of the party.