Congress Promises Kargil Probe If It Comes To Power

The Congress sees a well-crafted "conspiracy" behind defence minister George Fernandes and information and broadcasting minister Pramod Mahajan unleashing a "gutter-level tirade" against Congress president Sonia Gandhi, and has alleged that it has the support of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

At a press conference held here yesterday, Congress leaders referred to Fernandes' remarks on Saturday that Sonia Gandhi's only contributions to this country were her two children. Fernandes' statement came on a day when Mahajan expressed regret over his earlier remark, in which he had sought to draw a simile between Gandhi and Monica Lewinsky.

"It is part of a conspiracy. Otherwise, why would the Prime Minister of the country, who had sworn by the Indian Constitution, call Gandhi a foreigner," Congress spokesman Kapil Sibal said,

 

referring to Vajpayee's remarks in Lucknow last week that Gandhi should not hold any public office since she was a foreigner.

"His remarks show that he has no faith in the Indian Constitution, which says as long as a person is an Indian citizen he or she can occupy any public office," Sibal said.

Congress general secretary Pranab Mukherjee, working committee member Arjun Singh and Sibal yesterday represented to the Election Commission, seeking a public statement to put a stop to such campaigns.

The party has asked women around the country to boycott all public meetings of the National Democratic Alliance to "show that they would not tolerate this kind of behaviour from their leaders". The party has also demanded that Fernandes apologise not only to Gandhi, her children, and the Congress, but to the entire nation for making remarks against womanhood.

In the same speech made in Bellary_from where the Congress president is contesting elections_Fernandes had also called all Congressmen eunuchs for tolerating Sonia Gandhi as their leader.

Reacting to this, Pranab Mukherjee said, "I don't know what kind of culture this is. A person who has moved from party to party, who has no commitment, calls a party of 114 years as a party of eunuchs."

Sibal said: "His remarks are nothing short of an insult to motherhood and children."

Delhi Chief Minister Sheila Dixit, who was also present at the press conference, said she was flooded with phone calls yesterday, condemning Fernandes' male chauv