Khurana deserved another chance, says Vajpayee

New twist may turn into a Vajpayee Vs Advani battle

The Bharatiya Janata Party was once again thrust into a crisis today when former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee described senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana's expulsion from the party as "unfortunate".

Vajpayee said, in his last meeting with party President LK Advani, he had asked him (Advani) to give Khurana a chance to explain his conduct and another opportunity, as well, to serve the party. He was joined in this by senior party leader Murli Manohar Joshi, who agreed with Vajpayee saying that the BJP should take up the matter of Khurana's removal.

"Khurana has served the party for forty years and he should have been given a chance to explain his conduct," Vajpayee said in a statement. The statement also described Vajpayee as being the senior-most leader of the party, seen as a direct challenge to Advani.

Vajpayee's statement came as a bolt from the blue for BJP leaders who appeared to be caught on the wrong foot to explain their positions. One party spokesperson, trying to avoid having to explain the statement, punned on the Shahrukh Khan starrer, Main hoon na, by saying "Main nahi hoon na." In all this, Advani himself was not available for comments as he was attending a party workers' function in Jodhpur.

Some like senior leader Pyare Lal Khandelwal said Khurana should have been given an opportunity to answer charges levelled against him. "It is a violation of the party constitution that Khurana was not allowed to answer the charges levelled against him," he said.

The official press briefing of the party stood cancelled in the aftermath of the statement. Senior leaders like M Venkaiah Naidu and Jaswant Singh rushed to the RSS headquarters at Jhandewalan to meet senior RSS leader Suresh Soni. Mohan Bhagwat, another senior RSS leader, is also expected in the city tomorrow.

Sources said Vajpayee was miffed with Advani since the latter had allegedly not bothered to meet Khurana, despite being asked by Vajpayee. "The meeting was scheduled for September 4, but was not held," said a source close to Khurana.

RSS sources expressed the view that Advani would have to react in some way or the other to the entire imbroglio. This was because "it is none other than Vajpayee who has come out with a statement", said a top RSS source.

Joshi, Singh and Naidu were closeted with Vajpayee till late evening, trying to come to grips with the situation. After this, Joshi said BJP should re-examine Khurana's removal since he had not been given an opportunity to defend himself.