BJP tells Katiyar to tone down rhetoric

In an attempt to mollify Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the BJP high command tonight asked its state unit president Vinay Katiyar to...

In an attempt to mollify Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati, the BJP high command tonight asked its state unit president Vinay Katiyar to refrain from making statements which could affect the coalition.

‘‘We have asked the state unit to have better interaction with our ally, the BSP, so that the coalition functions smoothly,’’ party sources said after a meeting of the party’s central election committee at Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee’s residence.

Rebels got off lightly, BJP upset with Tandon
New Delhi: The BJP high command is not happy with the way UP Urban Development Minister and leader of the party’s legislature, Lalji Tandon, handled the return of rebels. Sources said BJP president M. Venkaiah Naidu wanted the rebels to publicly apologise for their misconduct. Letting the rebels get away like this, they said, would set a bad precedent. Tandon, party leaders feel, should have referred the issue to the central leadership instead of making it a media event. The rebels, they felt, changed their tune for fear of disqualification from the Assembly after campaigning against the party and trying to overthrow the Mayawati government. The petition is listed for hearing on Jan 13. — ENS

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The party directive follows a controversy over Katiyar’s statements on Ambedkar projecting him as a Hindu icon who was anti-Muslim. The election committee, which cleared the names of Surendernath Awasthi ‘‘Puttu’’ and Raj Kumar Tyagi for the Legislative Council, discussed the prevailing political situation in UP.

After the meeting, party general secretary Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said the election committee also discussed the strategy for the Assembly elections with emphasis on Himachal Pradesh where it is slated for next month.

Awasthi vacated his Assembly seat from Haidergarh for former chief minister Rajnath Singh. He had been elected on a Congress ticket from there. The party, which is contesting three seats in the UP Legislative Council, has left the decision for the selection of a third candidate to party president in consultation with the state unit, he said.

On the Katiyar issue, Naqvi said: ‘‘The yatra being undertaken by Katiyar would not affect relations with the BSP in the state and we would ensure that there is better interaction between the leaders of the two parties.’’

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Defending himself, Katiyar told mediapersons that he had only referred to Ambedkar’s remarks on Partition for ‘‘he was a leader whose speeches can be used by any party and I had only stated that he was against Partition as he envisaged that it could lead to terrorism.’’

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