Jaitley throws weight behind Uma, says she will not quit
NEW DELHI: The government will brazen out demands for action against senior BJP leaders, including Union minister Uma Bharti, following the Supreme Court’s order for their daily trial in the Babri demolition case.
BJP veteran LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Bharti and 10 others will be tried for criminal conspiracy in the 1992 case.
This is seen as a blow to the two BJP patriarchs, who were potential candidates for the President’s post, and the saffron clad Union minister, who was a face of the Ayodhya movement.
But, finance minister Arun Jaitley claimed charge sheet against any minister was not a ground for him to quit. “If charge sheets were a rule, just calculate how many Congress chief ministers, there are very few left, would have to go,” he told reporters.
The government insisted that the Babri case was going on since 1993 and no new situation has arisen after the Wednesday order. “So the situation which was prevailing will continue,” Jaitley added.
Asked if the order scuttles LK Advani’s chance of becoming the next President, Jaitley replied, “This is a hypothetical question.”
Within hours of the news about the SC order pouring in, senior BJP leaders such as home minister Rajnath Singh, Jaitley, transport minister Nitin Gadkari and party president Amit Shah went into a huddle at the prime minister’s office.
Sources in the government argued there was no need to panic and cited rules, which apparently does not allow trial of others if one of the accused enjoys any sort of immunity.
In this case, Kalyan Singh has that immunity by virtue of holding the post of the governor of Rajasthan. Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh in 1992.
VHP general secretary Champat Rai, another accused in the case, insisted he would want the trial to be over in two years.