No need for comments after Varun Gandhi's clarification: BJP

NEW DELHI: BJP today maintained that there is no need for the party to comment on the allegations against Lok Sabha MP Varun Gandhi after he has reacted to them, flatly rejecting the charge that he had leaked defence secrets to middleman Abhishek Verma after being "honey trapped".

"He (Gandhi) has issued a clarification. There is no need to offer further comments," BJP national secretary Shrikant Sharma said.

A BJP office-bearer said there is no need for the party to be drawn into the controversy involving a sensitive issue like defence deals.

"Let's see how the issue plays out. As of now, we don't think that there is a need to join the issue," an office-bearer said when asked about the attack by leaders of Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) and Congress on the government over the issue.

Gandhi was at the centre of a controversy over allegations by Swaraj Abhiyan that he had leaked defence secrets to middleman Verma and arms manufacturers after being "honey trapped", a charge he stoutly denied.

He had said in press conference yesterday that he last met Verma when he was a post graduate student in London at the age of 22 years.

"I am going to turn 37 now. I have never met him since I entered public life in 2004. The only reason why I even know of him is because his parents were members of Parliament and was a respected family. I knew them as many other leaders knew them," he had said.