Jena asks Advani to clarify State BJP remarks on Arun Doss

BHUBANESWAR, SEPT 7: Former Union minister and Janata Dal (S) leader Srikant Jena on Monday dared Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiy...

BHUBANESWAR, SEPT 7: Former Union minister and Janata Dal (S) leader Srikant Jena on Monday dared Union Home Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader L K Advani to an open debate on the stand taken by his State unit party that forced conversion and the social tension arising out of it led to the killing of the Christian missionary in Mayurbhanj district.

Addressing a news conference, Jena said that as the Union Home Minister, Advani should know whether conversion was a continuous affair or a sudden development which led to the killing. The JD (S) leader also took strong exception to the remarks made by a team of the State unit BJP against the slain preacher Arun Doss and wanted Advani to clarify whether he subscribed to those views.

Stating that protection of minorities is also the responsibility of the Central Government, the former Union minister criticised former BJP MP from Balasore Aira Kharavela Swain who had criticised Australian missionary Graham Stewart Staines after he was killed. Describing the criticism of Staines as “horrifying”, Jena said that the language was unbecoming of a MP. He also criticised Swain for using derogatory language to criticise prominent social worker Manmohan Choudhury.

The JD (S) leader demanded that Advani, who is coming to campaign to Orissa for these candidates, should clarify whether he subsribed to the observations made by his former party MP.

Jena demanded that Advani should also make it clear whether the Biju Janata Dal (BJD), his party’s ally in Orissa and a member of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), had any link with the political party floated by Ramesh Sharma, said to be a close aide of the underworld don Dawood Ibrahim.

Referring to newspaper reports which alleged that the office of Sharma’s party functioned from the official residence of a BJD MP at New Delhi, the former Union minister said that neither the party president nor the MP concerned has contradicted the reports.

The former Union minister said that he will also write a letter to Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee, listing corruption charges against two Union ministers, Dr Debendranath Pradhan and Dilip Ray. “I want to know whether the charges against these ministers will come under the purview of Prevention of Corruption Act,” Jena said and added that he will release the letter to the press on Tuesday.

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Alleging that the BJP-BJD have betrayed the people of the State, Jena said that not a single project for the State was cleared during their 13-month rule at the Centre. He said that he will not contest the elections, but launch a campaign asking people to vote for Congress and reject the BJP-BJD alliance in the coming elections.