BJP will stick to Hindutva agenda: Jaitley

BJP leader Arun Jaitley looks on during a press conference in New Delhi. Photo Courtesy: AFP

BJP senior leader Arun Jaitley, who has been under flak for party's dismal performance in Lok Sabha polls, on Saturday said the saffron party will continue with its 'Hindutva" agenda as 'no principled party changes ideology on the basis of electoral fortunes.'

"Though the policies and programmes come in for discussion whenever electoral results fall short of party's expectations, no political party changes its ideology on the basis of its showing in electoral battles," Jaitley said at the inaugural session of the state working committee.

The leader of opposition in the Rajya Sabha asked party workers to take to agitational means against the Centre and BSP government in the state to emerge as an alternative to both of them.

Criticising the politics adopted by the SP and BSP in the state, Jaitley alleged that both were responsible for criminalisation of politics and bad governance in the state.

On country's foreign affairs, Jaitley said, "the developments since the past two weeks like the mention of Baluchistan in the Indo-Pak joint declaration and the end use agreement during US secretary of state Hillary Clinton's visit, make feel that someone else was managing the foreign policy."

Terming the Centre and state governments as "utter failure", the saffron leader said as BSP government's popularity was on the wane just like the Samajwadi Party's, BJP could take advantage and expand party base.

Modi can be questioned in riots case: Gujarat HC

Ahmedabad: Gujarat High Court on Friday dismissed a petition challenging the probe by Special Investigation Team (SIT) against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 others in a post-Godhra riots case. Justice D H Vaghela dismissed the petition filed by former BJP MLA Kalu Malivad (one of the 62) stating that no relief could be granted in the case as the SIT was directly working under the supervision of the Supreme Court. After the High Court ruling, it is now clear that the SIT - constituted by the Supreme Court - is now empowered to question the Chief Minister and 62 others accused. The particular case was filed by Zakia Jaffrey, whose husband ex-MP Ehsan Jaffrey was killed during the 2002 riots in Ahemdabad’s Gulburg society along with 39 others. She has alleged in her complaint that Modi, his cabinet colleagues, police officials and senior bureaucrats aided the post-Godhra riots of 2002. Malivad's lawyer S B Vakil had submitted that Zakia's complaint was "vague where allegations have been made against high profile people". He said that SC had ordered SIT to "look into" the complaint which does not empower it to conduct investigation. Appearing on behalf of the SIT, senior counsel K G Menon had countered the points raised in Malivad's petition by submitting before the court that as per the Supreme Court order their job was to find out the truth with regard to the allegations made in Zakia's complaint. And as the apex court order had stated that SIT needs to take necessary steps as per law, "a preliminary inquiry in the matter was permissible, which we are doing," Menon said. He had further submitted that they were conducting a preliminary inquiry permissible as per the apex court's order, and the report will be submitted to the court. And only after a cognisable offence is disclosed following the preliminary inquiry that SIT shall register a case and then proceed for investigation, he added.Congress today welcomed the decision of Gujarat High Court dismissing a petition which sought stay on the Special Investigation Team (SIT)'s probe against Chief Minister Narendra Modi and 62 others in connection with the Godhra riots case. "It's an important development. With this decision of the High Court, Modi government is gradually getting thoroughly exposed," Congress MP Rajiv Shukla told reporters outside Parliament. Shukla said SIT is doing a good job in the case. BJP's Sushma Swaraj said the deciosion could be appealed against in the Supreme Court.

Malegaon blasts judge receives threat call

A special judge who presides over at least three major cases that involves Malegaon bomb blasts accused and Indian Mujhahideen received a threat call from an unidentified person this week.

Special Maharashtra Control of Organised Crime Act (MCOCA) Judge Y.D. Shinde has written a letter to the police and informed about the threat. However, the exact date of the call has not been disclosed. The Mumbai Police Commissioner D. Shivanandan confirmed that he had received a letter from the judge. “Judge Shinde has written a letter to us in which he has said that some unknown person had called him and threatened him”. Shivanandan said that the police had traced the call to a local PCO but refused to divulge any further details.
“Our officers are assessing the matter and necessary protection has been given to Judge Shinde”, added Shivanandan.

Advani, Rajnath meet RSS chief

NEW DELHI: Even as BJP grapples with its post-defeat dilemmas over a new leadership in both Parliament and the party, Leader of Opposition L K
Advani and party president Rajnath Singh met RSS head Mohan Bhagwat on Monday in what is seen to be a significant development. The meeting is the first since the poll results -- apart from an RSS intervention asking Advani to continue as Leader of Opposition -- and can be viewed in the backdrop of differing views on what the party should now be doing. It has been argued that re-emphasizing BJP's ideological core needs to be seen in the context of criticism for running a shrill, backward-looking and grievance-tinted campaign. It is being felt by a section of the party that BJP's claims to being a party of change capable of connecting with the middle classes took a blow due to the anti-Christian riots in Kandhamal in Orissa and the attacks on women at Mangalore pubs by Shri Ram Sene. The failure to unequivocally condemn saffron extremists has only hardened the opposition of minorities while it left BJP's target audience unimpressed. The RSS is keen to keep conflict in the BJP under control though the organisation cannot escape its share of blame for not making the pecking order within the party clear and allowing internecine battles between Singh and his critics to fester. Even as the election process was on, senior leader Arun Jaitley was at odds with Singh over the appointment of a controversial businessman to a party responsibility. The RSS's intervention urging Advani to continue as LOP was aimed at putting off an impending crisis while gaining time to work out a consensus within BJP. This led to Advani remaining LOP while senior leader Sushma Swaraj is the likely choice as his deputy. BJP will have to make its choice carefully as it is linked to changes, seen to be imminent, in the party set-up as well as Singh's tenure is nearing its end. Though the BJP president is understood to be keen to wrangle another term, this does not look likely as not only will it entail a change in the party constitution but it will also be difficult for the leader to escape responsibility for the poll debacle. The RSS chief has only recently taken charge from K S Sudarshan and BJP affairs present him with an important challenge as the party is threatening to slip into the doldrums after losing the elections. The choice for the BJP president's post has been rendered difficult as no "next generation" leader has clearly emerged a gainer in the elections. Despite campaigning hard, Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi was able to deliver only modest results and the BJP tally in his own state went up by just one. The campaign failures have also taken some sheen off BJP managers with senior leaders like Yashwant Sinha calling for a thorough review to fix accountability.