Already grappling with differences over the Rahul Mahajan issue, the BJP high command was face-to-face with another controversy today, this one over party general secretary Vinay Katiyar’s offer of Rs 1-lakh reward to any civilian for killing a Jammu and Kashmir militant.The high command here tried to salvage the situation by pledging its commitment to the ‘‘law of the land,’’ but Katiyar, still in Jammu, is standing firm on what he said. When reached for his comment by The Indian Express, Katiyar seemed elated over his offer. He used a Hindi proverb, ‘‘Sau sunar ki, ek lohar ki’’, to describe the reward offer made by him at a party workers’ rally at the Parade Ground in Jammu yesterday.Katiyar said the state BJP could add to the cash rewards given to members of village defence committees for killing militants. ‘‘Many parties do it at times,’’ he said.Responding to questions here, BJP spokesman Prakash Javadekar first said that Katiyar had clarified his position. Thereafter, he tried to rationalise what Katiyar had said, taking shelter behind the state government scheme that provides for village defence committees.When he started dwelling on terrorist killings, an unrelenting media insisted on a categorical answer to the core issue, whether or not the BJP would give cash rewards to civilians for killing militants. ‘‘Don’t run away from the question,’’ reporters said. ‘‘No, I am not,’’ Javadekar shot back.However, no categorical answer was forthcoming. ‘‘This (offering rewards) is a government policy,’’ he said, adding that the ‘‘government provides civilians with arms too.’’Most BJP leaders, though avoiding comment, found Katiyar’s idea untenable. They said from the logicistical point of view, there was no way the BJP could meet with the money demand on a massive scale for the offer. Besides, it smacked of a lack of confidence in the constitutional machinery, which was not in the national interest.Sources in the RSS were also dismissive of Katiyar’s offer. The memory of the recent success of the police in foiling an attack on the RSS office at Nagpur still fresh, the sources said, ‘‘Sarsanghchalak K S Sudarshan has also given a call to people to co-operate with the Government in fighting terror.’’ ‘‘There is no way the job can be undertaken by any political party,’’ they added.
