PM told me that I am a martyr, says Khurana

Having “unshackled” himself, Khurana is likely to intensify his campaign against the Sangh Parivar in the days to come. “Lest it be construed that I am speaking on behalf of the Prime Minister, I decided to resign from the Council of Ministers,” he pointed out.

In retrospect, it could be said that Khurana’s decision marks the culmination of the campaign launched against the Sangh Parivar during the BJP’s Jaipur national executive meet in October last, which has continued since then. The last straw, in Khurana’s own words, was party president Kushabhau Thakre’s refusal to allow him to speak during the BJP national executive meeting held at the beginning of the month. “I felt sad at the manner in which a sustained campaign had been launched by our own men against Vajpayee ji and wanted to air my views during the meeting, but was stopped from doing so by the party president,” Khurana told reporters thisafternoon.

Khurana claims to have resigned from both the Cabinet and the national executive immediately on his return from Bangalore on January 7. But there was no effort from the party for reconciliation, he claims.

Visibily bitter about the treatment meted out to him by the party, Khurana complained that all was well when he fought for the rights of a minority community (Sikhs) devastated in 1984 riots but was dubbed a bad character when he spoke of atrocities on another minority community (Christians).The Staines killing forced Khurana to shoot off another letter to both Vajpayee and Thakre. “The incident shook me completely,” Khurana said, adding, “It besmirched our image not only inside but outside the country too.”