NEW DELHI, 18 November 2004 — However desperate BJP may be to draw political mileage out of the arrest of Kanchi priest Jayendra Saraswati, developments suggest otherwise. Senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, yesterday, briefed party stalwarts, including former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, about his 45-minute meeting with the priest at the Vellore jail on Tuesday. Joshi described the manner in which he had been arrested as “most reprehensible.”
Among others present at the hour-long meeting at Vajpayee’s residence were BJP President L.K. Advani, former party chief M. Venkaiah Naidu and senior leaders Jaswant Singh and Arun Jaitley.
While BJP leaders are still deliberating over what should be their next course of action, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalitha has partly dampened their drive by justifying the priest’s arrest. Breaking her silence on the issue, Jayalalitha told the state assembly in Madras yesterday that police have “shocking” and “solid” proof on the priest’s linkage with murderers of Sankararaman, a temple official at Kancheepuram. This was her first statement since the priest’s arrest on Nov. 11.
Reading out a statement under Rule 110, she said: “The priest was treated with dignity and due respect was accorded to him.”
Dismissing charges of BJP leader Murali Manohar Joshi and NDA conveyor George Fernandes, Jayalalitha said all legal formalities were observed right from his arrest till he was lodged at the central prison at Vellore.
His arrest had proved that “everybody is equal before the law,” she said.
Asserting that the state government was not interested in taking over the administration of Kanchi Mutt, she said that the government wants it to function on its own and continue its services.
