BJP protests outside Sonia's residence over Batla statements

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday staged a protest outside Congress chief Sonia Gandhi's residence over party leader Digvijaya Singh's statement terming the Batla House encounter as "fake".

"The Congress and especially Sonia Gandhi have always been double-faced. When the Batla encounter took place, the Congress leader said the encounter was fake," BJP leader Satish Upadhyay said.

"We demand an apology from Sonia Gandhi. The Congress should not play the politics of dividing the nation," Upadhyay said.

Delhi BJP media coordinator Praveen Shankar Kapoor demanded that the Congress should apologise for maintaining that "the encounter was state-managed".

The Batla House encounter took place on September 19, 2008, during the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime, against IM terrorists hiding in a house in Jamia Nagar of Delhi. Two suspected terrorists were killed in the shootout, while two other suspects were arrested.

Encounter specialist Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma, who led the police action, was also killed in the incident.

Last week, Congress general secretary Digvijaya Singh stuck to his earlier stance that the Batla House gunfight was "fake".

Recently, a video footage telecast on a TV channel claimed that one of the suspects, Bada Sajid, who reportedly had escaped on the day of incident, was seen in an "IS video".

--IANS

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