'CBI misuse' not priority in House

The BJP may be rattled by the CBI's move to arrest Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah for the 2005 alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, but the party won't show it — at least, for sometime, in Parliament. HT reports.

The BJP may be rattled by the CBI's move to arrest Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's close aide Amit Shah for the 2005 alleged fake encounter of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, but the party won't show it — at least, for sometime, in Parliament.

HT Image

For, the BJP does not want to see the Congress "strategy" to isolate it succeed against the Opposition's move to corner the government on issues like price rise.

Outside Parliament, however, the party will agitate against the "misuse" of the CBI by the UPA government.

A decision was taken at a meeting of the party's national office bearers, state presidents and prabharis of the BJP on Wednesday.

In Parliament, however, the Amit Shah issue won't figure until the BJP exhausts its list of "priorities".

At Tuesday's meeting of the BJP parliamentary party, 11 issues were identified to be focused through call-attention and other methods. The Amit Shah episode wasn't given top priority.

"The party will certainly raise the issue of misuse of CBI by the government to harass the political adversaries but only at a later stage," said a senior BJP functionary.

In fact, the BJP's next focus is to present "crores" of signatures to President Pratibha Patil against the UPA's economic policies and its inability to contain inflation.

The event is slated for Thursday when top BJP leaders will march to Rashtrapati Bhavan.

"We are fighting against price rise in Parliament. I want support of the entire Opposition," said party president Nitin Gadkari.

"The BJP has decided to launch an agitation against the CBI," said party general secretary Ananth Kumar.

"We will hold protests in front of CBI offices in all states against its misuse."

Releasing a party journal, Gadkari even told the party workers that they should highlight how "the nationalists are being hounded by the CBI, while the government is sparing terrorists".

Sonia, Rahul absent
The Congress had issued a whip to its members to be present in Lok Sabha on Wednesday to counter the Opposition move to press for division in case its adjournment motion on price rise was admitted in the house.

When pointed out that Congress president Sonia Gandhi and general secretary Rahul Gandhi were not present in the lower House, party spokesman Manish Tewari said: "Yes it is correct that there was an advisory for the members to be present but the Congress president and the general secretary also have party responsibilities and organisational preoccupation. The reasons must have been very compelling."

But Tewari soon added that he was not aware of the exact reason for their absence.