Terror suspect David Headley has pleaded guilty before a US court for his role in the 26/11 terrorist attack. Is that a setback for India? The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday came down heavily on Home Minister P Chidambaram for arguing that it was not a setback.

"Regrettably, instead of expressing its concern, the Indian government seems to be rationalising the US position," BJP spokesman Rajiv Pratap Rudy told the media here.

He stressed that the Pakistani-origin American citizen, who is privy to the Mumbai attack conspiracy, may get away with a lighter penalty after pleading guilty and thus "the world will not be able to get to know the full truth of 26/11."

"Our investigators have only been able to reach to the truth of the limited conspiracy in which Kasab was being prosecuted. It was the arrest of Headley in the US, which gave to the world new clues about a larger conspiracy. However, Headley will not be available to India (for quesitoning)," Rudy said.

He also ridiculed Chidamaram for stating that Headley had agreed "to fully and truthfully testify in any foreign judicial proceedings held in the US by way of deposition, video-conferencing or letters rogatory." He pointed out that testimony through electronic devices will only reveal what Headley has already said in the US and letter rogatories is “just an interrogation in writing”.

"He will not be available for custodial interrogation or for any coercive process, which can pressurise him to speak the truth. He will not be available for being prosecuted or even for extradition," Rudy noted, pointing out that "obviously, Indian diplomacy proved (to be) a disaster" in getting Headley for trial in the 26/11 case.

He also criticised American authorities for not appreciating that the appropriate jurisdiction for prosecution of 26/11 is India. "Americans have two standards - one for the 9/11 and another for the 26/11. Our so-called ally in the war against terror is also Pakistan’s ally in its own war against terror on Pakistan’s western front. It has chosen to follow a differential standard on Pakistan’s eastern front."

Challenging the US authorities the investigate the full truth of the “Pakistani limb of the conspiracy,” Rudy wondered if "we will ever come to know the involvement of both state and non-state actors of Pakistan" (in the Mumbai attacks).