Attempt to target Ansari, Sonia worst form of character assassination: Congress

New Delhi: The Congress on Wednesday termed the BJP's charges against former Vice President Hamid Ansari, and the party's interim president Sonia Gandhi as the worst form of character assassination and insinuations.

Congress General Secretary Jairam Ramesh in a statement said: "Insinuations and innuendos by a spokesperson of the BJP against Sonia Gandhi and Hamid Ansari, former Vice-President of India, are to be condemned in the strongest possible language."

"The facts regarding the International Conference of Jurists on International Terrorism and Human Rights held on December 11, 2010 in New Delhi are already in the public domain. The insinuations and innuendos of the spokesperson of the BJP are character assassination of the worst form. The levels that the Prime Minister and his party colleagues will stoop to debase public debate and spread their patented brand of lies is staggering. It reflects sickness of mind and lack of any form of integrity whatsoever," he said.

The BJP on Wednesday slammed Hamid Ansari and the Congress, and sought their clarification over claims by a Pakistani journalist that he had visited India five times during the UPA rule, and shared sensitive information collected during his visits with the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) back home.

BJP spokesperson Gaurav Bhatia said this while referring to Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza's claims that he had visited India on Ansari's invitation and also met him.

Addressing a press conference, Bhatia said, "If Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, and the then Vice President remain silent on the questions raised by the ruling party, it will amount to their admission to these sins."

"People of India are giving you (Ansari) so much respect and you are betraying the country. Isn't this treason? Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi and Hamid Ansari should come out and reply to this," Bhatia said.

He said that journalist Mirza has claimed in an interview in Pakistan that Ansari had invited him five times to India during 2005-11 and shared extremely sensitive and classified information, which he passed on to the ISI.

"Mirza collected the information from Ansari and it was used against India," Bhatia claimed.