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BJP in crisis as Shekhawat adamant on contesting polls
IN THE RACE: Former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat addressing a press conference in New Delhi on Thursday.
NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party was engaged in high-level confabulations here on Thursday evening to deal with the crisis created by the former Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. He has made clear his intention to contest the coming Lok Sabha election, provided his health continued to be as good as it is, and refused to endorse L.K. Advani as the natural choice for the prime ministership.
Mr. Shekhawat repeatedly indicated that he was not averse to accepting responsibility as Prime Minister if such an opportunity presented itself.
During this visit to Delhi — he arrived here on Wednesday night — Mr. Shekhawat said he was not able to meet the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who was not well, but added that he would be doing so very soon. Mr. Shekhawat plans to leave for Jaipur on Friday but would be back here on Monday.
Mr. Shekhawat has put the party on the back foot not only on the issue of prime ministerial candidate, but also on corruption. He told journalists that he had written to Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot demanding registration of police cases against the erstwhile Vasundhara Raje government for corruption charges to the tune of Rs. 22,000 crore. He said a probe by a commission of inquiry would amount to justice delayed and justice denied. He linked his decision to contest the Lok Sabha polls to a desire to fight corruption, which was making India’s democracy and its political parties irrelevant. He reiterated his charge that BJP tickets were sold for the recent Assembly election in Rajasthan. He claimed that senior party leader Jaswant Singh was one with him on the issue of corruption in the Raje government.
Party insiders said Mr. Shekhawat was unhappy with the way the BJP leadership — Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha L.K. Advani and BJP president Rajnath Singh — had dealt with the corruption charges against Ms. Raje well before the Assembly election.
After Mr. Shekhawat held a press conference, Mr. Rajnath Singh and Mr. Jaswant Singh met him on Thursday evening at Mr. Jaswant Singh’s residence to try and control the damage done. Mr. Rajnath Singh is believed to have told him that his comments about Mr. Shekhawat were not made with any feeling of ill-will.
Earlier, talking to the press, Mr. Shekhawat made it clear that in his view the question who would be the Prime Minister, in the event of the National Democratic Alliance winning, would be decided later. “Yeh to baad ki baat hai. Pehle to Lok Sabha laden aur jeeten. (First we have to contest and win the election),” he said. Later, he also said it was for “others” and the “people” to decide who would be a better Prime Minister.
Mr. Shekhawat said he was not consulted when the BJP decided to project Mr. Advani as its Prime Ministerial candidate. However, party spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said the issue was closed.
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