New Delhi: Noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani, who has challenged his expulsion from BJP, on Friday told the Delhi High Court that he did not seek any damages from veteran leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee and BJP`s PM candidate Narendra Modi.
"My client does not want to press his case against Vajpayee and Modi and they do not need to file the written statements," the counsel for Jethlamalani, 90, told Joint Registrar
Anil Kumar Sisodia.
Other BJP parliamentary board members, including President Rajnath Singh and Arun Jaitely, today filed their written statements in response to the law suit filed by Jethmalani.
Ashok Arora, the counsel for Jethmalani, said there was an "inherent deficiency" in the replies filed by the BJP parliamentary board members as they all have filed the same
verifications.
"How can a leader verify the contents of communication between another leader and Jethmalani"? he said.
The court of Joint Registrar, which deals with filing of documents and completion of pleadings, has fixed the case for "admission-denial" of documents by both the parties for
August 25.
Jethmalani has challenged his expulsion from primary membership of BJP on the charge of "breach of discipline".
He has sought damages of Rs 50 lakh from the BJP Parliamentary Board members, except Vajpayee and Modi.
He has also sought the court to declare the Board`s decision as "null and void".
Earlier, the court had asked BJP and its Parliamentary Board members to respond by January 30 to the plea of the former Law Minister against his expulsion from the party.
There were many other aspirants in the party for being the party`s Prime Ministerial candidate and because of his client, who was supporting Modi, they did not succeed and were
aggrieved.
"Being aggrieved of my strong support to Modi, they (Board members) had issued statements against me in the media and other public fora," the lawyer had said.
The Joint Registrar had asked Jethmalani`s counsel to try to reconcile the issue with the party.
He has also challenged the show cause notice issued to him on November 26, 2012 by the party, saying it was an "attempt to damage" his "reputation".
Jethmalani, who had been critical of the BJP leadership and had revolted against the then party chief Nitin Gadkari, was expelled from the party for six years on May 28 last
year on charges of "breach of discipline".
