New Delhi, July 24 - Congress president Sonia Gandhi Friday evening convened a meeting of the top party leadership to discuss the escalating controversy over the India-Pakistan statement signed in Egypt.

'It's a routine meting, but the issue will be over the joint statement with Pakistan and the opposition that it is facing,' a Congress source told IANS.

The meeting was held at the residence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, and attended by Sonia Gandhi, Defence Minister A.K. Antony, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Home Minister P. Chidambaram and Gandhi's political secretary Ahmed Patel, among others.

Earlier in the day, the Congress party described the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) opposition to the India-Pakistan statement as trying to extract political mileage from the issue.

Refuting the BJP's allegation that the inclusion of Balochistan in the joint statement amounted to conceding that India was responsible for problems in the Pakistan province, Congress spokesperson Shakeel Ahmed said: 'This is completely wrong. In fact we want a peaceful neighbourhood. BJP is trying to make political mileage by opposing the joint statement and making such allegations.