New Delhi, July 22 (IANS): A day after a special court here convicted former union minister P.K. Thungon in a 1998 corruption case, a union minister on Wednesday said the Congress should introspect and own up responsibility in the matter.

The BJP also took a dig at the Congress on the issue.

"A senior leader of the Congress, Thungon, has been convicted in a corruption case after 17 years. There is a need for the Congress to take responsibility and introspect," Kiren Rijiju, union Minister of State for Home, told reporters.

Special Judge Ajay Kumar Jain convicted Thungon, also a former Arunachal Pradesh chief minister, and three others in the corruption case of 1998. The court remanded them in judicial custody.

BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, "The skeletons of corruption of yesteryear have been tumbling out of the closet of the Congress."

"Such is the extent of corruption of the Congress that the era of (then prime minister) Indira Gandhi is over but corruption cases of those times are still existing," Patra said.