Lashing out at BJP leader L K Advani,Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi on Sunday accused the saffron party stalwart of not standing behind his Prime Minister during the Kandahar hijack crisis. "The strong leader did not know that terrorists were being released. When we asked,he (Advani) said Vajpayee did it. A leader who is strong always stands by his Prime Minister.he should have resigned," Gandhi said ridiculing Advani's claim of being a strong leader. Campaigning for Congress' Haridwar parliamentary constituency candidate Harish Rawat,Gandhi wondered how Advani could "blame" Vajpayee for this as he is no longer in politics. "But they say Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is weak. When the nuclear deal was being signed,I went to Prime Minister Singh. He said even if the Left did not support the government,let it fall as the future of power generation and technology was at stake," he said insisting that such was the strength of Singh. Advocating for a new orientation for development in Uttarakhand,Gandhi said in the last 25 years in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh,governments came and went but did nothing for the development of the state. Uttarakhand was a part of UP till the year 2000.
