New Delhi: The Centre has rejected the plea of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Varun Gandhi for lifting the National Security Act (NSA) imposed on him by the Uttar Pradesh government for his alleged hate speech.
Sources in the Home Ministry said on Saturday that there was no ground for its intervention in the matter.
They said the Home Ministry has nothing to do in revoking or intervening on the issue of slapping NSA on Varun Gandhi.
The 29-year-old leader, who is to make his electoral debut from Pilibhit Lok Sabha seat in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested on March 29 by Uttar Pradesh Police, for allegedly inciting communal tensions.
Later, listening to his plea, the Supreme Court granted Varun a two-week parole/interim bail on April 16 by the Supreme Court.
Varun on Wednesday filed his nomination papers to fight the Lok Sabha elections from Pilibhit constituency.
Gandhi, the new Hindutva poster-boy of the BJP, was accompanied by his mother Maneka Gandhi while filing his papers at the District Magistrate office here for the elections to be held on May 13 in this seat.
Rejection of plea ratifies Cong vote-bank politics: BJP
Reacting to the rejection of Varun Gandhi's plea by the Centre, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has alleged that it is a ratification of the "vindictive and vote-bank politics" of the Congress.
"UPA led by Congress has ratified and manifested its conventional vindictive and vote-bank politics by rejecting the plea by Varun Gandhi," party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told reporters.
Congress and the UP government lead by Mayawati has set a wrong precedent by clamping NSA on political opponents, he added. "The action would recoil for the Congress in the elections," Javadekar said.