New Delhi, Jan 27: BJP today chose to remain silent on party general secretary Pramod Mahajan's new twist to the foreign origin issue apparently targeting Priyanka and Rahul Gandhi by saying that the prime ministership should be restricted to only those born of Indian parents. Despite repeated attempts at the party press briefing, BJP spokesman Prakash Javdekar parried all queries on Mahajan's reported statement saying the senior leader would be here in a day or two and then clarifications could be sought.

On another BJP leader and Union Minister Rajnath Singh's statement that there was no bar on Rahul and Priyanka becoming prime ministers and the issue was only aimed at Sonia Gandhi, Javdekar said that there is "no difference between what they (Mahajan and Rajnath Singh) are saying".

He suggested that Mahajan's statement has been taken out of context.


When reporters persisted with the issue, Javdekar said that there was no need for them to bother as "people of the country are not going to give any opportunity to them (Rahul or Priyanka).”

He claimed that the unique factor of the coming Lok Sabha elections was the "pro-incumbency factor" prevailing for the government and its leader. He claimed that popularity graph of Atal Bihari Vajpayee has risen from 45 per cent when he became the prime minister to 60 per cent now.

Bureau Report