Jaswant rules out stepping down as Parl panel chairman

Jaswant also scotched speculation about his return to BJP. “You don’t have to worry about it. The roads are closed,” he said when asked about the possibility of his getting back to the party.

His remarks comes a day after senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj conveyed to him the party’s wish that he step down as PAC chairman.

Jaswant,being the senior-most of the three BJP MPs nominated to the PAC from the party,was appointed the chairperson of the committee. The other two BJP members are Yashwant Sinha and Gopinath Munde.

As per convention,the chairpersonship of the PAC was given to BJP as it is the main opposition party.

Asked about the ban on his controversial book on Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Gujarat,Singh said L K Advani and the party president Rajnath Singh should have discussed the book with him before taking a decision to expel him.

Brushing aside allegations of plagiarism,he said some mistakes have been pointed out which will be rectified in the book’s next edition.

The apex court on Tuesday issued notice to the Narendra Modi government on a petition filed by Singh challenging the ban order.

Gujarat government had banned the book on August 19,two days after its launch,on the charge that its contents were against public tranquillity and national interest.

Singh was expelled from the party on August 19 during the BJP ‘Chintan Baithak’ in Shimla for his remarks in his book ‘Jinnah – India,Partition,Independence’.