New Delhi: Against the backdrop of a row over
induction of tainted Uttar Pradesh leader Babu Singh Kushwaha,
senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha on Sunday conceded that his party
is only "70 per cent pure" as he contended that every party
has to make compromises for "practical wisdom".
Sinha, who had threatened to resign in August last year
feeling that the party was not raising the issue of corruption
as aggressively as desired, defended the induction of
Kushwaha, former UP minister who is being investigated by CBI
in NRHM scam.
He refused to accept that the induction, which has now
been put on hold in view of criticism including within, had
tarnished BJP's image and claimed that his party was still
different from others "in terms of quality and scale".
The former Union minister said, "Every party in
Parliamentary democracy has to do this (compromise). It has
not been done for the first time and also certainly not for
the last time."
Contending that "nobody or party can claim to be 100 per
cent pure", he said, "But, BJP is 70 per cent pure while
others are only 20 per cent (pure). So, still BJP is a party
with a difference."
He was reacting when asked how BJP could claim to be a
"party with a difference" even after induction of Kushwaha,
which came on top of the party forming government in Jharkhand
with the support of JMM against whose leader Shibu Soren who
is facing corruption charges.
"No political party runs as a theological or charitable
organisation. As per age-old dictum that politics is an art of
possible, every party has to combine ideology and practical
wisdom," he said.
PTI
First Published: Sunday, January 15, 2012, 11:33