NDA's reply on Dawood same as UPA's: Rajnath

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Friday said the UPA government had given the same answer in May 2013 in response to a question on the location of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim as had the NDA government earlier this week.

Responding to concerns raised by Congress MP Jyotiradtiya Scindia in the Lok Sabha about the written reply of Minister of State for Home Affairs Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary that Dawood's location was not known, Rajnath Singh said the opposition members did not properly understand the answer.

"It is the same reply. The meaning was not understood properly (by the opposition)," he said. The minister said he will make a detailed statement on the issue on Monday.

Scindia accused the government of a "u-turn" on the location of Dawood, who was an accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts case and has a red corner notice against him.

He said the government's stance had provided Pakistan an opportunity to deny Dawood's presence in that country, with Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit terming the dossiers given by India as "self-serving".

He said Modi had said during the election campaign that India will bring back Dawood and pursue him in the way the US had pursued terrorist Osama bin Laden.

Scindia said the latest statement on Dawood showed that the government has little control over its ministers as some others including Sadhavi Niranjan Jyoti, Gen (retd) V.K. Singh and Giriraj Singh had made controversial remarks.

The government was left red-faced after Chaudhary said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha that Dawood's location was not known and extradition proceedings against him will start once he is traced.

Minister of State for Home Kiren Rijiju, later, said it was the consistent stand of the government that Dawood was in Pakistan.