New Delhi:
Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh has suggested to NDTV that reports of a divide among its top leaders on several major issues are not entirely speculative.
"I agree it is relevant that the BJP must come across as a unified, united, conceptually one front to lead a revived NDA to answer the needs of the country," he said.
When asked if his party is moving in unison, he said, "If it were happening then perhaps some of these problems would be solved."
The BJP has not yet indicated its stand on the crucial issue of whether a new bill against corruption should cover the Prime Minister's Office. The Lokpal (Ombudsman's Bill) will be discussed at an-all party meeting on Sunday. The BJP says it will decide on Saturday whether to attend the discussion. "We cannot have a situation and this I have said in Parliament, that we have a tendency to have a law for every new crime and we have a tendency to create a new police organization or a body for every new criminal. Now we already have what I said in Parliament. We have the stranglehold of the C3 which is the CVC, the CAG and the CBI. Now these 3 put together unintentionally have brought about a situation in which governance has come to a standstill and we witness it every day," he said.
Mr Singh also said that's he worried about the fact that politicians and business executives now in jail - mainly for the 2G scam - are being denied bail even though they are charged with bailable offences.
"I agree the popular mood which in another context is the street is baying for the blood of the politician to which community I belong. I think somebody has to stand up and say don't kill the goose that has laid golden eggs all this while. You can't destroy the very origins of the economic growth. You can't spread despair in the country if people aren't arrested. They must be judged by the law of the land and a bail is due to them, as I believe, I am not a jurist nor am I a lawyer, neither by preference nor by training. But if somebody arrested is entitled to bail, then, I think as a citizen of this country I can appeal to the courts and say please let them have bail. Do charge them do arraign them and do, once the trial is over, put them into prison. But bail is a right and you don't deny that right to the citizen, simply because the popular mood today is so angry," he said.
"I agree it is relevant that the BJP must come across as a unified, united, conceptually one front to lead a revived NDA to answer the needs of the country," he said.
When asked if his party is moving in unison, he said, "If it were happening then perhaps some of these problems would be solved."
The BJP has not yet indicated its stand on the crucial issue of whether a new bill against corruption should cover the Prime Minister's Office. The Lokpal (Ombudsman's Bill) will be discussed at an-all party meeting on Sunday. The BJP says it will decide on Saturday whether to attend the discussion. "We cannot have a situation and this I have said in Parliament, that we have a tendency to have a law for every new crime and we have a tendency to create a new police organization or a body for every new criminal. Now we already have what I said in Parliament. We have the stranglehold of the C3 which is the CVC, the CAG and the CBI. Now these 3 put together unintentionally have brought about a situation in which governance has come to a standstill and we witness it every day," he said.
Mr Singh also said that's he worried about the fact that politicians and business executives now in jail - mainly for the 2G scam - are being denied bail even though they are charged with bailable offences.
"I agree the popular mood which in another context is the street is baying for the blood of the politician to which community I belong. I think somebody has to stand up and say don't kill the goose that has laid golden eggs all this while. You can't destroy the very origins of the economic growth. You can't spread despair in the country if people aren't arrested. They must be judged by the law of the land and a bail is due to them, as I believe, I am not a jurist nor am I a lawyer, neither by preference nor by training. But if somebody arrested is entitled to bail, then, I think as a citizen of this country I can appeal to the courts and say please let them have bail. Do charge them do arraign them and do, once the trial is over, put them into prison. But bail is a right and you don't deny that right to the citizen, simply because the popular mood today is so angry," he said.
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