Making known where her loyalties lay, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson Najma Heptulla today heaped praises on Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee at a public function here, saying he has achieved what the Congress had originally set out to do but could not. Vajpayee, who promptly returned the compliment, said: ‘‘It is up to her (Heptulla) to decide when she wants to join the BJP’’. The PM was releasing the Devnagari transcription of Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s Tarjumanul Quran, published by the ICCR of which Najma is the president. Heptulla spoke glowingly about Vajpayee’s Indo-Pak peace initiative, saying: ‘‘It is in your time, Vajpayeeji, that this happening. You are clearing the debris of Partition’’. Next, she described the Prime Minister as the ‘‘light of the country’’ and his Sadak Yojana as ‘‘a project for a road that is joining hearts.” Carrying on with her tirade against the Congress leadership, Heptulla said: ‘‘It is the problem of the Congress leadership which cannot praise anybody else’s good work. Just because the PM is releasing the book, it does not mean that I am joining the BJP.’’ Quoting Maulana Azad, she went on: ‘‘If it is the janm adhikar (birthright) of the Hindus to fight the foreigner, it is a dharma adhikar (moral right) of the Muslims to do so’’, in a not-so-subtle reference to Sonia Gandhi.
