BJP President Nitin Gadkari tells Gyan Varma that there is no disagreement within the party over the issue of JPC.
Even as the BJP continues to demand a Joint Parliamentary Committee probe into the corruption issue, there seems to be a tussle with Murli Manohar Joshi, head of the Public Accounts Committee. How do you react to these different views within the party?
There is no tussle between the Bharatiya Janata Party and its senior leader Murli Manohar Joshi. The PAC is an official committee of Parliament and it’s a continuous process. As far as the BJP is concerned, Joshi has never opposed the idea of the setting up of a JPC. He is with the party on the demand for a JPC. The allegation that there is a division within the BJP on the issue of JPC and that Joshi is not agreeing to the BJP demand is all a creation of the Congress party. They want to confuse the people of the country by trying to prove there is no need for a JPC and the senior leaders of BJP are not entirely ready for a JPC probe. But, they won’t succeed.
If the present stalemate with the government on the corruption issue doesn’t end, do you think it will affect the Budget session of Parliament?
It is too early to comment on how the Budget session will be. The BJP is, at present, concentrating on the anti-corruption rallies that are being held in different parts of the country and we continue with our demand for the setting up of a JPC on the 2G spectrum allocation scam.
Why is the Opposition, especially the BJP, adamant on a JPC probe? The investigation agencies are doing their work and the PAC is also looking at the charges. Even the PM has now agreed to appear before the PAC.
The offer given by the Prime Minister by sending a letter to Joshi is a political strategy by him and the Congress party. They are only trying to confuse the people. The PAC has its own limitations and it cannot look into all the aspects that the Opposition, especially the BJP, is demanding. There are instances when corporate lobbyists are seen making ministers in the Cabinet. These are dangerous developments for the country and they must be thoroughly investigated by the Parliamentarians. There is a scam of Rs 1.76 lakh crore and this allegation was not made by the Opposition parties but by the CAG. The magnitude of the scam is so big that it could not have happened without the Cabinet’s approval.
The people of the country have the right to know what is the role of the Prime Minister’s Office, the Congress party and what was the deal between the Congress and the DMK. They had actually outsourced the formation of the government and this has happened for the first time.
The Congress party has alleged that the BJP should not talk about fighting corruption because Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa is still holding the post even after all the allegations against him. How do you react to these charges?
The charges against the Yeddyurappa government are not correct. What Yeddyurappa did was immoral, but not illegal. It has been done earlier also and the earlier governments have done ten times more. The governments of S M Krishna, Narayan Dharma Singh and H D Kumaraswamy have also done similar things. When we came to know about the situation in Karnataka, we had asked Yeddyurappa to return the land immediately and set up a commission to look into all these allegations since 1996, so that the people of the state know the truth.
Even as the BJP is holding an anti-corruption rally all across the country, not a single event has been planned in Karnataka? Don’t you think that Karnataka is also an important state where the corruption issue should be highlighted?
This is not true that BJP will not hold any anti-corruption rally in Karnataka. The state has always been very important to the party, especially since we have our first BJP government there now. The reason why we are not holding a rally in Karnataka immediately is because the panchayat and taluk elections are going on and we want them to be over first. We will have a massive rally in Karnataka after the party is through with the elections.
During the recent crisis in Karnataka, how close was Yeddyurappa from being asked to step down? Was there a threat to the state government if he were to be removed?
The state government will complete its full term and there is no threat to the government. There were some issues, but those were sorted out when Yeddyurappa came to Delhi. The state government is doing a good job; it is doing well in the rural and urban areas. Investors are upbeat about coming to Karnataka. I am sure that we are going to win the panchayat and taluk elections with a big margin and that will be the answer to all the allegations that have been levelled against the Yeddyurappa government.
BJP has done better than JD(U) in the Bihar assembly elections. Do you think there is a change in power sharing in the state? Can we call the NDA win as the re-emergence of the NDA in national politics?
The victory of the NDA alliance in Bihar has changed the atmosphere in the country. The Congress has been grounded because of the loss and it will continue to go down from now. The NDA was relevant and it has become even more relevant now. The year 2010 can only be defined as the year of massive scandals done by the Congress party.
Indresh Kumar of the RSS was recently questioned by the CBI in connection with the Mecca Masjid blast case. He has been named in the Ajmer blast case charge-sheet, but not made an accused. Do you think he is being targeted because of political witch hunting?
“Hum to doobe hain sanam, tumko saath le doobenge” is the policy of the Congress. These allegations are only political conspiracies against the BJP and RSS. These are the lies of the Congress, which it wants to feed in the minds of the people against the BJP. The leaders of the Congress party are purposely doing it so that there is a divide between Hindus and Muslims. But, they got the answer in the Bihar elections when Muslims voted for the BJP. They want us to fail, but the BJP will survive and do well. They will never succeed.
What is your choice of an ideal BJP worker? Whether he should be a backward RSS type person or a modern, forward looking political executive?
An ideal BJP member is someone who is a nationalist and who is ready to work for the country and the society. The worker should work for the underprivileged people of the country and should stand up for their rights. The BJP worker should believe that the country comes first, the party second and he is the last person to get priority.