BJP president Nitin Gadkari on Monday seemed to have closed ranks behind Karnataka chief minister BS Yeddyurappa. Gadkari not only reiterated that he would wait for the Lokayukta?s report to be tabled when it comes to taking stand on the corruption charges against the beleaguered chief minister, but also snubbed party vice president Shanta Kumar for his comments against Yeddyurappa.
The BJP president, on the other hand, demanded that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and home minister P Chidambaram quit their positions after former telecom minister A Raja?s testimony in the special CBI court on Monday that both of them were in the know of the transactions in the 2G spectrum allocation. ?I don?t go by the politics of perception, but by the facts. In this (Yeddyurappa) case, the facts are not before me, whereas the face of Congress? complicity in corruption has been exposed,? he said.
?I have always said that off-the-record briefing and such comments by party leaders was not desirable behaviour,? he said, referring to Shanta Kumar. Gadkari has not called a meeting of the party?s parliamentary board for over a month and a half. He said he felt ?no need to call for one? on Yeddyurappa. The board has known anti-Yeddyurappa leaders such as Ananth Kumar as members. Also, some central leaders feel that without Yeddyurappa?s ouster the party?s campaign against corruption would weaken. Denying this, Gadkari said, ?I don?t feel it weakens. There is a clear case, as demonstrated by the testimony in court, that the Congress is corrupt, whereas the Karnataka Lokayukta?s report is yet to be tabled.?
Gadkari also denied that the party had started hunting for a replacement for Yeddyurappa. ?We are not looking for any replacement, simply because he is still the chief minister of Karnataka,? he said. The latter?s grip on the 19% Lingayat vote bank in the state has even earlier saved him from action by the party high command.
Meanwhile, on the 2G case, Gadkari made it plain that the target was no longer the DMK, but the Congress. ?It is now in public domain that much against the repeated advice of the finance ministry officials to take the auction route for 2G spectrum, Chidambaram, after the grant of licence, wrote that the matter be treated as closed. The PM also confirmed the position,? he said. ?The PM, both inside and outside Parliament, has been evasive on this issue. Now, his own former Cabinet colleague has named him,? said Gadkari. ?The BJP, therefore, demands that both the PM and former finance minister must resign,? he added.