BJP seniors go into a huddle over Kirti Azad's suspension from the party
New Delhi: A day after the BJP suspended its Darbhanga MP Kirti Azad’s primary membership over “anti-party activities” and for “colluding with Opposition parties”, speculation is rife that party veterans could take up the issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on his return from Russia. The saffron old guard — L.K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha — went into a huddle on this matter here on Thursday.
Mr Azad has been running a campaign against the alleged financial irregularities in the Delhi District Cricket Association while finance minister Arun Jaitley was heading some time back. Mr Azad has also sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s intervention in the matter, and said he would seek a court-monitored probe into DDCA affairs. He said he has full “faith” in Mr Modi and would expect him to do “justice”.
While the BJP veterans refused to divulge what they had discussed at the meeting that lasted over an hour at Dr Murli Manohar Joshi’s residence, speculation is rife that the old guard could ask the party leadership to set up an internal committee to probe the allegations levelled by Mr Azad against Mr Jaitley. Both Mr Advani and Dr Joshi are members of the party’s “Margdarshak Mandal”.
Earlier, on the eve of Diwali, the old guard had targeted the party leadership over the Bihar poll defeat, accusing it of emasculating the party.
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The veterans are apparently not happy with the manner in which Mr Azad was suspended, and feel the Opposition has been given more ammunition to attack the ruling party over its fight against corruption. In a dig at Mr Modi, Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi said on Thursday that the PM used to say “na khaoonga, na khaney doonga” (will not engage in corruption myself, nor will allow others to do so), but added that the PM was now silent (on Kirti Azad’s allegations) and people have started losing faith. Hailing Mr Azad as a “whistleblower”, the Congress leader rued that instead of taking purposive action in the matter, the BJP leadership had thought it fit to “shoot down the messenger”.
Mr Azad has also sought the intervention of the party’s “Margdarshak Mandal”, that also comprises Mr Modi, Mr Rajnath Singh and former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee. The BJP parliamentary board suspended Mr Azad three days after his press conference where he raised the DDCA issue but refrained from naming Mr Jaitley. Mr Azad said he will file a PIL in his personal capacity on the DDCA issue and warned that people “will be in trouble”. He also asked for “specific reasons” for the disciplinary action against him by the party.
“The BJP and RSS always speak of uprooting corruption. We also talk about walking the path of Mahatma Gandhi. Thus I wish Narendra Modiji intervenes in this issue, goes deeper in it, and then tells me what I have done wrong, as I need specific answers,” Mr Azad said in Ahmedabad.
He also alleged that the CBI was indirectly helping the DDCA by alerting the cricketing body through notices, resulting in the “disappearance” of files.
Mr Azad also said he was planning to submit a reply to the party and claimed that senior BJP leader Subramanian Swamy would him to draft the reply. He also vowed to continue his crusade against corruption and recited Atal Behari Vajpayee’s famous poem Haar Nahi Manunga, Raar Nayi Thanunga.
In series of tweets, Dr Swamy also questioned the party’s decision to suspend Mr Azad and asked whether cricket fell within the purview of “party discipline”. Reiterating that he would help Mr Azad to draft his reply to the party, Dr Swamy tweeted: “Kirti issues are 1 — Is cricket affair within the purview of party discipline. 2 — Due to SC case on BCCI, is party decision amenable in court”. In another tweet, he said: “When I filed the NH (National Herald) case the CRT (Congress Tweeple) morons tweeted that it my vendetta. Now I am mentoring Kirti and they tweet it is a vendetta against AJ (Arun Jaitley).”
