Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: All is not well within the BJP over the candidates being chosen by the party for entry into the Rajya Sabha.
As per reports Wednesday, many senior BJP leaders are vehemently opposing the party president Nitin Gadkari’s decision to nominate noted lawyer Ram Jethmalani and former editor of RSS mouthpiece Panchajanya, Tarun Vijay, from Rajasthan and Uttarakhand respectively.
Many top rung BJP leaders including veterans like MM Joshi and Yashwant Sinha feel that there are several other more qualified aspirants in the party who deserve a Rajya Sabha berth.
As per unconfirmed reports, the absence of top leaders like LK Advani, Arun Jaitley, Rajnath Singh and Yashwant Sinha from the party’s two-day convention on good governance held on June 5 and 6 in Maharashtra, is a pointer to the rift in the party over the decision to back Vijay and Jethmalani.
The displeasure against Jethmalani’s nomination arises from the fact that he had previously contested elections against Atal Bihari Vajpayee from Lucknow.
Jethmalani had also opposed the party’s stand on the issue of execution of Parliament attack mastermind Afzal Guru
Importantly, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi is understood to have played a role in securing a Rajya Sabha nomination for Jethmalani.
Interestingly, Jethmalani is now actively voicing the BJP’s stand and is protesting against the delay in Afzal Guru’s execution. The noted criminal lawyer has even described Vajpayee as his political hero.
With regards to Tarun Vijay, the displeasure is from the RSS side.
BJP national executive member and Organiser’s former editor Seshadri Chari has reportedly written a letter to Gadkari lamenting the decision to give a Rajya Sabha ticket to Tarun Vijay ignoring many other party workers.
