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BJP criticises Bhujbal's 'personal vendetta'

Tara Shankar Sahay in New Delhi

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday demanded the resignation of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal over the 'Thackeray fiasco'. The Congress, however, dismissed the demand, arguing that the state government was studying the legal implications of the Shiv Sena leader's release.

"The judicial verdict of the Shiv Sena chief's release is a slap in the face of the Maharashtra government. Its decision to arrest Thackeray was the result of the personal agenda of a single individual and the BJP demands Bhujbal's resignation. There is need to insulate the legal process from personal vendetta," said BJP spokesman M Venkaiah Naidu.

Referring to the question on Ram Jethmalani's reinstatement, Naidu said that it 'was the prerogative of the prime minister' and he was in no position to comment on the matter. The former law minister resigned from the Union Cabinet at the behest of the prime minister.

Naidu pointed out that Jethmalani's resignation was connected with some issues that had a direct bearing on the prime minister's authority and prestige.

He said that the decision to prosecute Thackeray had caused the stock market to crash and kept the state, especially the capital Bombay, on tenterhooks for several days. "The Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government took this decision to divert attention from the problems facing the state," he said.

The dismissal of the case against Thackeray vindicated his party's stand that the Maharashtra government should not proceed with his arrest. He insinuated that the arrest had caused considerable anger among the Sena chief's followers.

Sena parliamentary party leader and Lok Sabha member Anant Gite said that Chhagan Bhujbal's empty bravado has been exposed. He accused Bhujbal of making Thackeray's arrest a prestige issue without giving a damn for the consequences.

Congress spokesperson Margaret Alva said that her party was studying the legal implications of the verdict. "The ministers in the BJP-led government are easy-come, easy go," she quipped when asked to comment on the saffron party's demand for Bhujbal's resignation.

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