ADVANI 2 LAST

Prasad said many magazines and journals published from
abroad, including a magazine from Switzerland had published
such allegations in the past.
"In spite of the serious nature of these allegations
there was no rebuttal or denial. Therefore, in the absence of
any firm denial, these allegations carried some validity," he
said.
The BJP maintained that Advani has in his public
utterances "gently reminded" the Congress president that if
she felt strongly about these allegations she should issue a
firm denial. He had raised this issue at a BJP rally in
Guwahati in January after the national executive.
"Now for the first time after so many years, Gandhi
has written to Advani denying the existence of any such
foreign bank account. In the light of this belated denial,
Advani has expressed his regret," Prasad said.
However, some leaders within the BJP appeared to differ
from this view and maintained that the party could have
avoided targeting the Gandhi's with the allegation in the Task
Force Report.
Some also felt that Advani's letter could have been
avoided.
The BJP appointed a four-member Task Force comprised S
Gurumurthy, former IB director Ajit Doval, Professor R
Vaidyanathan from IIM-Bangalore, and advocate Mahesh
Jethmalani. Its brief was to unravel the amount of black money
stashed by Indians in foreign banks and ways to bring it back.
It has put the figure of money stashed in safe havens
to be Rs 25 Lakh Crore.
The Task Force report, released by Advani and other NDA
leaders on Feb 1, had alleged that Sonia Gandhi and former
Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi were among Indians who held Swiss
bank accounts. PTI