Though the main Opposition party blamed Congress for the ‘growth, consolidation and spread’ of terrorism and held it responsible for the rise in Naxalism, it was on the backfoot on the Kandahar hijacking episode which happened when it was in power.

Replying to Congress claim that Afzal Guru was arrested and let off after questioning by J&K police two months before the incident in 2001, the party admitted that the Parliament attack convict was picked up but not arrested.

Afzal was picked up for questioning by J&K police 11 times between 1993 and 1997 and ‘it is a complete lie that the BJP or the NDA facilitated his release at any point of time’, party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

"However, during the NDA regime, when he was identified as one of the main conspirators in the attack on Parliament, he was charged, tried, convicted and sentenced to the gallows for waging an attack on India," he said.

"It is the Congress government which is trying to save him with an eye on vote bank politics," he added.

However, Prasad appeared to be on the defensive when asked about the NDA government's decision to set free three militants to end the hijacking crisis. "It was not ideal but the best possible solution," he said.