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Shourie raises accountability issue

Neena Vyas

Maneka lashes out at Arun Jaitley for “leaking” internal matters to the media

Shourie endorses setting up of committee for looking at election results
Highlights need for involving leaders in States without conducting politics from Delhi alone

NEW DELHI: Two issues dominated the discussion on the election reverses suffered by the Bharatiya Janata Party at its National Executive Committee meeting here on Saturday afternoon: the need for accountability and the “leaks” to the media that are destroying the party’s credibility.

Senior party leader Arun Shourie once again raised the issue of “accountability,” while Maneka Gandhi defended her son Varun, who had come under attack at Friday’s office-bearers’ meeting, and attacked the former general secretary and election campaign in-charge, Arun Jaitley, for “leaking” internal party matters to the media. She even named some television personalities and said everyone in the party knew who had the best relations with them.

Mr. Shourie too brought up the “fiasco” of the compact disc of the cash-for-votes affair during the trust vote on July 22 last year being handed over to one particular television channel, resulting in a great embarrassment to the party.

These issues, in one form or another, have been raised separately by three party leaders at different party forums. Mr. Shourie first expressed his views at the parliamentary party meeting on June 9; the next day they was raised by Jaswant Singh at a meeting of the party’s core committee; and within a couple of days, Yashwant Sinha mentioned these issues in a letter to party president Rajnath Singh while resigning from all party positions.

While officially BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said Mr. Shourie endorsed the setting up of a committee for looking at the election results in detail and demanded that the report be made public, party sources indicated that he raised the issue of repeated leaks of internal party discussions to the media.

It seems Mr. Shourie suggested that these should be traced. It would not be difficult as the “leaks” were being made to a handful of journalists.

Mr. Jaswant Singh became rather emotional and said he had been charged with attachment to a room in Parliament. This was his last election, he said, before veteran Madhya Pradesh leader Sunderlal Patwa reminded him gently it was the party who decides who will fight when and from where. Mr. Singh’s complaint was that he had been charged with fighting for a position when he had dedicated 45 years to the party.

As state party presidents and general secretaries one by one presented reports on how and why their States had performed well or badly in the Lok Sabha elections, senior leaders intervened. Mrs. Maneka Gandhi took the opportunity when the case of Uttar Pradesh was discussed. She defended her son and gave statistics to show that it was not his speech that did the party in.

Mr. Shourie, who spoke for about 15 minutes, is reported to have said a free and frank discussion on the election outcome would not hurt the party, for it was never a good idea to sweep issues under the carpet. He highlighted the need for involving leaders in the States, without conducting politics from Delhi alone. “Bring 10 leaders from the States to Delhi,” he is believed to have suggested.

The tone and tenor of the discussions showed the anger in the party against Arun Jaitley, who did not attend the executive as he is away in Britain. As Mr. Jaitley was in charge of the campaign as well as media management — and now he has been made Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha — he was attacked directly and indirectly. To a lesser extent, prime ministerial candidate L.K. Advani was also the target of ire with one speaker disapproving of the “personalised campaign” centred on Mr. Advani.

The party will wind up its deliberations on Sunday with a valedictory address by Mr. Advani.

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