The Hindu : BJP to confront Cong. on corruption

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 11, 2003

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BJP to confront Cong. on corruption

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI APRIL 10. The Bharatiya Janata Party has decided to take head on the allegations of corruption made by the Congress president, Sonia Gandhi, against the party. A decision has been taken to launch a counter-offensive and the State units have been asked to compile details of corruption charges against Congressmen and make these public.

The party spokesperson, V.K. Malhotra, today took exception to some statements by Ms. Gandhi.

He said that while there was not a single case of corruption against BJP Ministers, several Congress Ministers in the States had resigned following such charges. The party would be making a list of such cases. He also referred to the antique smuggling case against Ms. Gandhi.

The BJP today separately released the list of 12 members who will form the election management committee in Madhya Pradesh.

Though normally the party does not include its chief ministerial candidate in this committee — Narendra Modi was left out of the Gujarat list and Mr. Dhumal was not included in the Himachal list — in the case of Madhya Pradesh, the party's chief ministerial aspirant, Uma Bharti, has been made president of the committee and Shivraj Chauhan its convener.

Party leaders indicated that it was the State president, Kailash Joshi, who drew up the list, and perhaps modestly left out his own name.

Nevertheless, the omission of his name has once again become a reminder and a pointer to the deep divisions in the Madhya Pradesh unit, although the general secretary, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, said that in any case such a committee would have to function under the overall charge of the State unit president.

Among those who have been accommodated in the committee are four Union Ministers, Vikram Varma, Sumitra Mahajan, Satya Narain Jatiya and Faggan Singh Kulaste.

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