In a yet another reflection of the widening worries of the Bharatiya Janata Party, Vice-President Bhairon Singh Shekhawat reaffirming his resolve to contest the forthcoming Lok Sabha election, went a step further on Thursday and said he had not felicitated L K Advani when he was elected the NDA alliance’s PM candidate.
Attempting to take the fight further into the BJP camp Sheakhawat said: “Other senior leaders in the BJP, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, too, should contest the coming election.”
Shekhawat was scheduled to hold a meeting with Vajpaye with Thursday but, his statements invoking scorching temperatures in the BJP, the meeting was cancelled.
Perhaps seeking a greater say in Rajasthan politics for his family, Shekhawat addressed a packed press conference during the day and embarrassed the BJP by demanding a probe into “the Rs 22,000-crore scam during the previous Vasundhara Raje Government in Rajasthan,” the probe was initially called for by the Congress in its election manifesto.
By evening, Shekhawat was waxing eloquent on the “on the significance of allies in the coming elections” and trumptete his secular credentials by adding he had made three of his ministers resign because they wanted to take party in the Ram Janmabhoomi stir in early 90s.
“He may not be technically in the BJP, but he is definitely one of the tallest leaders in the party and his voice means a lot in north India,” Rajasthan BJP leader Narpat Singh Rajvi, who’s also Shekhawat’s son-in-law, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Later in the day Shekhawat met Rajnath Singh after Jaswant Singh took the former vice-president to his place where Rajnath was already waiting.
Shekhawat was, however, far from satisfied with the meeting, and reportedly wanted “firm assurances on Rajasthan”. He was also dissatisfied by Rajnath’s explanation that “he bore no ill-will towards the elder leader”.
In no mood to relent Shekhawat probed further by launching a frontal assault against the BJP national executive alleging “Tickets beche gaye hain, paise ka durupyog hua hai. BJP ka shudhikaran hona chahiye,” he said.
“The role of money power and casteism have led to irrelevance of democracy. This should be a matter of concern for the entire political system,” he added.
2009 is ostensibly the best and last chance for BJP stalwart LK Advani to fulfill his long sanding ambition of assuming the top office in the country, and Shekhwat, if not delicately handled, may well turn out to be the nemesis it failed to calculate.
Attempting to take the fight further into the BJP camp Sheakhawat said: “Other senior leaders in the BJP, including Atal Bihari Vajpayee, too, should contest the coming election.”
Shekhawat was scheduled to hold a meeting with Vajpaye with Thursday but, his statements invoking scorching temperatures in the BJP, the meeting was cancelled.
Perhaps seeking a greater say in Rajasthan politics for his family, Shekhawat addressed a packed press conference during the day and embarrassed the BJP by demanding a probe into “the Rs 22,000-crore scam during the previous Vasundhara Raje Government in Rajasthan,” the probe was initially called for by the Congress in its election manifesto.
By evening, Shekhawat was waxing eloquent on the “on the significance of allies in the coming elections” and trumptete his secular credentials by adding he had made three of his ministers resign because they wanted to take party in the Ram Janmabhoomi stir in early 90s.
“He may not be technically in the BJP, but he is definitely one of the tallest leaders in the party and his voice means a lot in north India,” Rajasthan BJP leader Narpat Singh Rajvi, who’s also Shekhawat’s son-in-law, was quoted as saying by The Indian Express.
Later in the day Shekhawat met Rajnath Singh after Jaswant Singh took the former vice-president to his place where Rajnath was already waiting.
Shekhawat was, however, far from satisfied with the meeting, and reportedly wanted “firm assurances on Rajasthan”. He was also dissatisfied by Rajnath’s explanation that “he bore no ill-will towards the elder leader”.
In no mood to relent Shekhawat probed further by launching a frontal assault against the BJP national executive alleging “Tickets beche gaye hain, paise ka durupyog hua hai. BJP ka shudhikaran hona chahiye,” he said.
“The role of money power and casteism have led to irrelevance of democracy. This should be a matter of concern for the entire political system,” he added.
2009 is ostensibly the best and last chance for BJP stalwart LK Advani to fulfill his long sanding ambition of assuming the top office in the country, and Shekhwat, if not delicately handled, may well turn out to be the nemesis it failed to calculate.
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