BJP runs out of excuses, gets its murder-tainted Ministers to quit

BJP runs out of excuses, gets its murder-tainted Ministers to quit
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, AHMEDABAD, NOVEMBER 11: After a spirited defence of what was fast becoming indefensible, the BJP decided to get Union Minister of State for Defence Production Harin Pathak and Gujarat Health and Civil Supplies Minister Ashok Bhatt to quit.

Both of them have been charged with the murder of a police constable during the 1985 anti-reservation riots in Ahmedabad which also turned communal. The two allegedly provoked a mob to stab the constable to death.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Bhatt said that they quit on ``moral grounds'' and that they would prove their innocence in the Gujarat High Court.

The resignations came at the end of a day which saw Jana Krishnamurthy, vice-president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the man in charge of Gujarat affairs, staunchly defending Pathak and Bhatt, virtually absolving them of their role in the murder.

Krishnamurthy, on a visit to Gujarat, said that the case was more than 15 years old and the police are known to have filed chargesheets in ``the heat of the moment.'' He had also said it was a ``simple case of murder'' and did not involve any moral turpitude like in the Bofors or JMM bribery case. He even claimed he had evidence that the case was cooked up.

Although Bhatt denied there was any pressure on them, the two ministers are believed to have quit on the advice of Home Minister L K Advani and Law Minister Arun Jaitley. Also, the BJP in Gujarat, still reeling from its unexpected defeat in the recent civic polls in the state, didn't want the Opposition to seize the moral high ground.

Advani and Jaitley were apparently of the view that it would be difficult for the BJP to defend their colleagues against a murder charge even though they may be innocent. They are believed to have advised Pathak and Bhatt to fight the case in the court rather than put the party through the embarrassment given that Parliament resumes on November 20.

Bhatt drew a parallel with the stand taken by Union Home Minister L K Advani when he had announced that he would not hold any party post or contest elections till he was absolved of charges in the hawala case.

The Pathak-Bhatt case is, of course, a political hot potato with Advani, HRD Minister Murli Manohar Joshi and recently re-inducted Uma Bharati facing charges in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

However, the BJP is drawing a distinction between a murder charge, which is seen as a serious criminal offence, and charges of demolishing what they insist is merely a ``disputed structure''.

However, the Opposition can be expected to criticise this fine dividing line drawn by the BJP and may train its guns on the Cabinet ministers now that Pathak is out of the firing line. The two ministers had faced flak earlier this year in the Lok Sabha, forcing Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to jump to their rescue with an esoteric explanation differentiating between cases of moral turpitude and those arising out of what he called political agitations.