Sibal: Jaitley must apologise
Union minister Kapil Sibal on Sunday said Mr Arun Jaitley’s reported comment that the BJP was using Hindutva as an opportunistic tool has exposed the real face of the party and demanded an apology from him.
Both Mr Sibal and Mr Jaitley are eminent lawyers who have stopped practice in the courts for the time being.
Mr Sibal also asked BJP veteran L.K. Advani and the RSS to tell the nation “what they now think about Jaitley.”
He said comment of a responsible Leader of the Opposition that the BJP was using Hindutva as an opportunistic tool is a “very, very serious issue.”
“Congress has been saying that the BJP is misleading people. Now, they should apologise to them,” Mr Sibal told reporters here. WikiLeaks cables had reported that Robert Blake, Charge at the US Embassy, had conveyed to his government, after a meeting with Mr Jaitley on May 6, 2005, that “Jaitley argued that Hindu nationalism ‘will always be a talking point’ for the BJP.
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No further clarification needed: BJP
AGE CORRESPONDENT
New Delhi
March 27: A day after WikiLeaks expose claiming senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley had said the BJP was using Hindutva as an opportunistic tool, the party stood firmly behind its leader claiming that the issue needs no further clarification by it.
On Sunday, the party also hit back at Congress for attacking Mr Jaitley over his reported comment.
The BJP claimed Congress was throwing “expired missiles of allegation” from the “sinking ship of corruption”.
“The Bhartiya Janata Party does not need any certificate for its nationalism and ideological commitment from Congress or its government,” party vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said.
Mr Naqvi said as far as WikiLeaks is concerned, the party has clarified on it and there is no need for any further clarification.
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