Expelled Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Jaswant Singh on Friday sharpened his attack on the BJP by saying that senior party leader L K Advani was “at the centre” of the cash-for-votes scam drama enacted in the Lok Sabha last year. “It’s a great sense of pity. Here was a man who was consumed by an ambition to be Prime Minister, and that desire made him commit so many mistakes,” Singh has told the Outlook magazine in an interview.”Do you know this whole wretched thing of money for votes is a classic example of wrong decision making and it’s extremely troubling that he did not stand up and say no. Advaniji was at the centre of this whole drama,” he added.Singh further said that Advani had two options to choose from, either to take the money to the Speaker or into the House. “I was not consulted, but I was appalled that Advaniji was giving the MPs the go ahead to display money in Parliament,” Singh said. Singh was referring to the episode, when three MPs, Ashok Argal, Faggan Singh Kulaste and Mahavir Bhagora, stunned the nation by brandishing wads of cash in the Lok Sabha shortly before the Manmohan Singh government was to face the trust vote last July.
Showing posts with label jaswant singh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jaswant singh. Show all posts
Advani stopped Vajpayee from acting against Modi: Jaswant
Firing a fresh salvo at LK Advani, expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh has claimed that the former home minister stopped Atal Bihari Vajpayee from taking action against Narendra Modi over the 2002 riots on the ground that it could trigger uproar in the party.
Prime minister Vajpayee was "disturbed" and wrote down his resignation letter in his Parliamentary office. "Parliament was in session," Singh said on NDTV's Walk the Talk programme.
"He (Vajpayee) pulled a piece of paper and he started writing his resignation by hand. I held his hand and he looked at me severely and I said what are you doing. Don't do this. He said Chod do and I somehow I persuaded him. We went to his house. We were able to defuse the situation," Singh said.
Singh said he alongwith Vajpayee, Advani and Arun Shourie were flying to Goa for a BJP meeting when the conversation relating to the Gujarat chief minister cropped up.
"He (Vajpayee) asked, Gujarat ka kya karna hai (what should be done about Gujarat ?...there was silence for sometime. He then said Gujarat ke bare mein sochna chahiye. Then Advaniji went towards the bathroom...Atalji said poochhiye fir ky karna hai (ask him then what should be done)?
"I went and asked Advaniji. Advaniji just said one phrase-bawaal khada ho jayega party mein (there will be uproar in the party," Singh said.
Singh, who held the key portfolios of Finance and External Affairs in the Vajpayee government, said on that day, he was called from the House by Pramod Mahajan to the PM's office in Parliament.
"Come quickly Jaswantji", he told me. "I didn't know what had happened... When I went, I was told "Sambhaliye, sambhaliye (control the situation). Istifa de rahein hain (he is giving his resignation).
Vajpayee called his secretary. "I told his secretary to go away and not come back. He (Vajpayee) sternly asked me kya kar rahe ho (what are you doing)".
Asked whether Vajpayee was inclined to act against Modi, Singh said, "Factually to the best of my recollection, yes, this was the conversation.
Pressed further on whether Vajpayee was inclined to sack Modi, Singh said, "I would not use the word 'sack'. But certainly from the party to reflect and take some corrective measure.
Singh had sought to embarrass Advani yesterday by saying that the then home minister was well aware of his accompanying three terrorists to resolve the Kandahar hijack episode.
Advani had then claimed that he was against the decision to free terrorists in return of the passengers of the hijacked flight IC-814 in 1999 and went on say that he had nothing to do with the decision to send Singh with the terrorists.
Publisher of Jaswant's book says Guj govt's ban boosting sales
Jaswant Singh's controversial book on Jinnah might have led to his ouster from BJP but the book has been selling like hot cakes, bringing cheers to the publisher who said the Gujarat government's ban would only contribute to its robust sale.
"It (the ban) is complimentary because the sale was already good. Now, the Gujarat government has done a good job for us," RK Mehra, chairman of Rupa and Co, the publishers of the book, 'Jinnah: India, partition, independence', said.
He said they had only heard about this ban through media, adding "till today I have not seen the public notification of the Gujarat Government gazette. I can react to that only when I see the notification on what grounds it has been banned".
Contending that the book was selling extremely well across the country, he said, "we can't give you the exact number as it is a business secret, but the book shops are running out of stock".
"It is selling everywhere, it is selling very well in Pakistan and we have received orders from London, Bangladesh and Abu Dhabi. The subject of partition has been a subject of great interest anywhere in world," he said.
As far as India is concerned, it is an event which cannot be forgotten. There is a historical importance to that and since the controversy has come around, that obviously will arouse a lot of interest, he said.
Asked about the date of release of the book, he said, "I don't know what transpired between him and BJP, we gave him a date which was August 17, which is our 74th anniversary. He kindly agreed to that about a month back and everything was executed according to the plan".
Two years ago another book of his was released on August 17. He is one of our best selling authors and we try to give him the mileage, the publisher added.
