Panel report will be Govt’s undoing: Shatrughan Sinha

He also alluded to the possibility of a BJP government coming to power at the Centre. “Atal Bihari Vajpayee is an acceptable face in Indian politics and a section of the Opposition leaders may support him,” he said.

Lashing out in his characteristic flamboyant manner, he said Gujral was “a good person but a weak politician”. “A good man has bent to please the `old man in a hurry’ so much so that he had no qualms about murdering democracy in Uttar Pradesh by dissolving the Kalyan Singh government,”he maintained, citing the recent developments in UP.

“To prevent the BJP from coming to power is the sole objective of the Gujral Government; issues like price rise, increasing unemployment and border tensions are simply not on the agenda. All the government is concerned about is how to survive for as long as possible,” he said.

Judging from the way the BJP is being hounded by all parties, it is sure to bounce back — like Newton’s third law (of motion) — he further predicted.

In reply to a question, Sinha said the BJP had made no offer to former Gujarat chief minister Shankarsinh Vaghela inviting him back into the party. “Vaghela will not be accepted back into the party at any cost,” he asserted.

He countered charges that the BJP was involved in horse-trading and had brought about the defections of Congress and BSP MLAs in UP. “This is false propaganda by the Opposition; an attempt to malign the BJP’s image,” he shot back. “The pot is calling the kettle black.”