The Bharatiya Janata Party is not ready to forgive Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde for his comments that the BJP and the RSS are promoting terrorism through their training camps.
A core committee of the BJP has decided to extend its protests against Shinde to Parliament, when the House meets for the Budget session on Thursday.
The BJP, however, is unlikely to disrupt the proceedings “endlessly”. The party sources indicated that the thanksgiving motion on the speech by the President, the rail and general Budgets will have to be discussed “threadbare” in Parliament.
Apology sought
The party has been maintaining that Shinde should issue unconditional apology for his statement. They had challenged Shinde to order arrest of BJP and RSS leaders if he had any evidence of their involvement in terrorist activities.
Shinde, sources in the BJP said, had reached out to the key leadership informally and conveyed his willingness to apologise for the remarks.
A senior BJP leader said the issue will be taken up in both Houses of Parliament. The party expects Shinde to be ready to “explain” his stand on the issue in Parliament.
To raise chopper deal
The party is also keen to raise the issue of VVIP helicopter deal in Parliament. It has targeted Defence Minister A.K. Antony and said he was now giving several orders and statements and was struggling to keep his “Mr Clean” image.
“But the fact remains that he has been Defence Minister since October 24, 2006,” BJP spokesperson, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, told reporters here on Monday. “We will raise this issue strongly in Parliament,” Rudy added.
Another issue the party is keen to take up is the allegation against P.J. Kurien by the victim of Suryanelli gang rape case.
The party has made it clear that it will stick to its position that Kurien will have to resign until the legal proceedings on the case end. The party will join the Left parties to take up this issue in Rajya Sabha.