NEW DELHI: Cracks have surfaced within the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), with its senior member, former Vice President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, hitting out at it. Suggesting that it is not yet time for him to quit politics, 86-year-old Shekhawat said yesterday that his supporters want him to contest Lok Sabha polls.
His remarks came just a day after BJP President Rajnath Singh said that Shekhawat should not consider contesting Lok Sabha polls due to his health and because he had held a senior constitutional post (that of vice president).
Shekhawat yesterday caused further embarrassment for the party when he suggested that former Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee join the electoral fray and retorted that Rajnath Singh did not “bother” him.
Alleging “political degeneration” in the party, the veteran leader, who fueled speculation about his being in the race for the prime ministerial candidature of the party when he stated Tuesday that he would fight the Lok Sabha elections, intensified the war of words.
Asked about Rajnath’s Wednesday statement that a person who had held a constitutional post could not contest elections, Shekhawat shot back: “Which law says that?”
“I don’t bother about Rajnath Singh,” he said when his attention was drawn to the latter’s statement that those “who have had a holy dip in the Ganges don’t bathe in a well”. He told reporters that Rajnath had not even been born when he, Vajpayee and the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani were together in the party.
“Me, Atalji and Advani have been together since 1952 when I joined the Jan Sangh. It was the time when Rajnath was not even born and he will take time to understand the BJP,” Shekhawat said.
The octogenarian leader said he would contest the polls and Vajpayee should too “if his health permits”. Advani was deputy prime minister in the Vajpayee government when the party lost the general elections in 2004.
Asserting that he was concerned about “corruption and political degeneration” in the party, Shekhawat reiterated his allegation that the party’s tickets for the Dec. 4 Rajasthan assembly elections were sold.
He said he had also written a letter to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot urging him to inquire into allegations by the ruling Congress party of corruption of Rs.320 billion by the BJP’s Vasundhara Raje government. “I feel sorry for making her the chief minister of the state,” he added.
“This money belongs to the people of the state and there should be an inquiry in it. The Congress made these allegations, it should inquire into it and appoint a high level commission for inquiry.”
Stunned by Shekhawat’s remarks, party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the BJP had “full trust in Vasundhara Raje”. “She is our leader, she was our chief minister.”
Responding to a question if he would be the BJP’s prime ministerial candidate if he won the elections, Shekhawat said: “I never said that.” Pointed out that he was the senior most leader of the BJP, he said: “Yes, age-wise I am older to Atalji also. I am 86, he is 83 and Advani is 80. But all of us share the same experience.”
Acknowledging that he has received Shekhawat’s letter, Gehlot said yesterday in Jaipur: “I have received Shekhawat’s letter, it is being examined ... he has expressed his concern on corruption.”
“The process of preliminary investigation has been initiated in a number of cases including the land scam in Jaipur Development Authority, spying and phone tapping of previous ministers of the then Raje government and fake police encounter in which a trader was killed,” Gehlot said.
— With input from agencies
