Was opium served at Jaswant Singh’s meeting?

Jaswant Singh's meeting with dissident party leaders at his ancestral village in Rajasthan's Barmer district was plunged into a controversy following reports that opium was served to participants.

Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh’s meeting with dissident party leaders at his ancestral village in Rajasthan’s Barmer district was plunged into a controversy following reports that opium was served to participants but he denied the charge.

Commenting on the reports that opium was served during the meet, Singh said it was a very old tradition to serve opium in functions like Riyaan when nears and dears and even people of nearby villages are invited to express for thanks-giving after a family gets some good news and happiness.

“But, yesterday, at my function no opium was served as it was a mix of gangajal, kesar, jaggery and tea”, he said.

Singh sought to play down suggestions that it was a meeting of dissident BJP leaders and claimed it to be more of a social occasion.

“Who is saying all this”? he shot back when asked about reports that some dissident leaders had come to his ancestral house in Jasol village.

It was purely a family function and he had last time organised such a function nearly seven years ago when his grandson was born, he said.

“Now, I have organised this because there were many things to celebrate in the past four years, including my son Manvendra’s victory in Lok Sabha election and also the birth of my granddaughter,” the former Union Minister said.

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BJP dissident leaders in Rajasthan, including Education Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari, Social Welfare Minister Madan Dilwar, party MP Lalit Kishor Chaturvedi, Raghuvir Singh Kaushal and Kaliash Meghawal others had attended Singh’s function.