In response to the BJP's new assault, ex-vice president Hamid Ansari stated on Friday that he stands by his prior position that he never knew or invited Pakistani journalist Nusrat Mirza to any conference, news agency PTI reported.
Mirza claims that he visited India five times under the UPA regime and delivered critical material gathered there to his country's intelligence organisation, ISI. Mirza allegedly stated that he had visited India on Ansari's request and met with him.
Ansari, on the other hand, has rejected the claim as a "litany of untruth."
The BJP escalated its attack on the Congress on Friday, using an image of Ansari and Mirza allegedly sharing the stage at a terrorist conference in India in 2009.
"The former Vice President of India stands by his earlier statement that he never knew or invited Pakistan journalist Nusrat Mirza to any conference, including the 2010 conference mentioned by Nusrat Mirza or 2009 conference on terrorism or on any other occasion," a statement from Ansari's office was quoted by PTI in its report.
In response to the BJP's accusation that he had invited Mirza, Ansari has previously stated that invitations to foreign dignitaries by the Vice-President of India are made on the advise of the government, normally through the Ministry of External Affairs.
For the previous several days, clips of Pakistani journalist Mirza's interview in Pakistan have been making the rounds on social media, in which he revealed that he attended a terrorist seminar in India where Ansari spoke.
Mirza also claimed to have provided secret and sensitive material to the Pakistani intelligence organisation Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
(With Inputs From PTI)