Now,Wiki storm hits Jaitley,BJP backs him

BJP chief Nitin Gadkari,on a visit to Ranchi,backed Jaitley. He has already clarified. It could be the diplomats interpretation. I know,ideologically,Arunji cannot say such a thing. He would not have said such a thing. I think he was misunderstood by the US official, he said.

The RSS too backed Jaitley. Spokesman Ram Madhav said: Since he has clarified that the word opportunistic was neither used by him in the context of Hindutva nor does he have such views about Hindu nationalism,we would rather leave it at that.

But the Congress,which has so far been at the receiving end of the WikiLeaks disclosures,pounced on the opportunity. Chickens are coming home to roost … what goes out wrongly hits back like a boomerang. People living in glass houses are taught in this manner never to throw stones at others, spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi said.

The revelation comes within days of the BJP led ironically by Jaitley himself aggressively cornering the UPA and PM Manmohan Singh in Parliament over WikiLeaks exposure on the 2008 cash-for-votes scandal.

Gadkari insisted that the nature of the two cables was different. While the cash-for-votes one was about an incident where facts had been reported,in this case,there was ample scope for interpreting an opinion. The cash-for-votes was about an incident. Money was shown to a diplomat. There was no room for interpretation there. In this case,there is enough possibility of not just misunderstanding what was being said but also misinterpreting, he said.

The cables ,released by The Hindu,relate to Jaitleys meeting with Blake on May 6,2005. Blake is supposed to have written in a cable dated May 10,2005: pressed on the question of Hindutva,Jaitley argued that Hindu nationalism will always be a talking point for BJP. However,he characterised this as an opportunistic issue.

Jaitleys remarks apparently prompted Blake to conclude his credentials with the Sangh Parivar are weak,and he may not have what it takes to mobilise the BJP base. Jaitley is also supposed to have expressed his protest over Washingtons decision to revoke the visa of Gujarat CM Narendra Modi.