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Khurana sulks as BJP pacifies Verma

A group of Delhi MLAs owing allegiance to Union Parliamentary Affairs and Tourism Minister Madan Lal Khurana today accused the Bharatiya Janata Party leadership of trying to marginalise him in Delhi politics.

Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's letter to former Delhi chief minister Sahib Singh Verma, assuring him a berth in the Union Cabinet, has brought to the fore the factional war between the Jats and the Punjabis.

Yesterday, the Punjabi Mahasangh had also warned the party leadership against trying to marginalise senior leaders like Khurana.

Talking to reporters, Khurana's supporters said he was very upset and anguished and would take a decision about his future course of action within a week.

Khurana, who had stepped down as chief minister of Delhi in the wake of the havala scandal in 1995, has not been talking to anyone from the print or electronic media for the past 20 days.

He did not even attend a meeting of Delhi MPs convened at the BJP headquarters this morning to chalk out a strategy for the assembly election in the state.

They said Khurana had written a ten-page letter to party president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre in August, drawing his attention to activities in the party to promote factionalism.

He had expressed sorrow that committed and devoted workers and leaders are being marginalised in every state. Their contribution in building the party is being ignored and decisions are being taken under pressure from some known and unknown quarters, he had said.

In the letter, it was emphasised that the Bharatiya Jana Sangh and its successor, the BJP, had always worked to promote brotherhood within the party and faith in its leadership. But it is no longer so as many are engaged in denigrating one another and promoting factionalism, his supporters said.

UNI

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