New Delhi, Aug 27 - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Thursday faced more embarrassment with Brajesh Mishra, who was national security advisor (NSA) during the party-led NDA government, as well as senior leader Yashwant Sinha asserting that L.K. Advani was aware of the decision to swap terrorists for hostages during the 1999 Indian Airlines hijack.

Mishra told CNN-IBN channel that Advani was part of the decisions taken 'unanimously' by the then Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) regarding the release of militants to save 160 hostages on the hijacked Indian Airlines plane in 1999.

Mishra found support from Sinha, a former minister, who told NDTV that Advani was 'fully aware' of the decision to swap terrorists for the hostages.

'Truth should be spoken, truth should be adhered to. The hijack matter... it is a matter of history,' he said.

Sinha also said that the sacking of senior leader Jaswant Singh for his book praising Mohammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of Pakistan, was 'not correct' and Singh should have been given a chance to explain.

Mishra told CNN-IBN: 'The decisions were taken by the CCS, which had (then) prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, home minister L.K. Advani, finance minister Yashwant Sinha, defence minister George Fernandes and external affairs minster Jaswant Singh as its members.'

The comment of Mishra, former prime minister Vajpayee's closest aide, comes days after Jaswant Singh said he had 'covered' up for Advani during the 2009 Lok Sabha campaign by concealing that the BJP's prime ministerial candidate knew of the terrorist-hostage swap during the 1999 hijacking episode.

In a bitter attack on Advani after his sacking from the BJP last week, Jaswant Singh had revealed that the former home minister's claim that he was unaware of Jaswant Singh accompanying three freed terrorists for securing the release of 160 hostages was not true.

Advani had all along claimed that he was not in the know that Jaswant Singh was on the plane with three terrorists to Kandahar.

Rebutting Advani's claims, Mishra said: 'I am not going to get into anything that then home minister Advani said. I will only draw your attention to the fact that key members of the CCS - George Fernandes, Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha - have very clearly said he (Advani) was there.