Jaswant confined to LS backbench

Jul 16, 2010 - Age Correspondent |

New Delhi

Former Union minister Jaswant Singh will find it difficult to get a seat in the front row in the Lok Sabha after his re-admission into the party.

“We have no place to accommodate him in the front row seats occupied by the Leader of the Opposition Sushma Swaraj, L.K. Advani, deputy leader of the BJP Gopinath Munde, Murli Manohar Joshi and Rajnath Singh,” said a BJP official hinting that Mr Jaswant Singh will have to be content being a backbencher in the Lok Sabha despite his return to the parent party.
But Mr Singh might have to go to the second row which has party leaders like Ananth Kumar, Shatrughan Sinha, Harin Pathak and Shahnawaz Hussain.
“We have still not received any request from the BJP seeking a change of seat for Singh,” Parliament sources said ahead of the Monsoon Session which begins on July 26. After his expulsion from BJP in August in 2009, the 72-year old leader was forced to go to the third row in the Lok Sabha from his front row seat in the Opposition ranks.
Mr Singh, who was the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha till the last general elections, was given seat number 371 in the fifth block, accommodating members from small parties.
That seat was allocated to Mr Singh by Speaker Meira Kumar ahead of the Winter Session of Parliament in November 2009 when he was also chairman of the prestigious Public Accounts Committee.
On June 24, Mr Singh rejoined the party nine months after he was summarily thrown out for praising Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah in his book Jinnah — India, Partition, Independence.
While holding Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel responsible for partition, Mr Singh maintained that Jinnah was secular, a position that was unacceptable to the Sangh Parivar. Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi had banned Mr Singh’s book in his state.
BJP will now have to make a seat available on its benches to Mr Singh in keeping with his seniority.

Comments

Shri Jaswant is a stateman.

Dr. Mehtab Ali Shah

16 Jul 2010 - 18:45

Shri Jaswant is a stateman. Being a neighour of Sindh, the land of Shah Latif Bhittai, who preached peace and fraternity, Mr. Singh is a bridge between India and Pakistan. He is a misfit in the party of bigots.

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