Opinion Kirti Azad suspended: How this has put the BJP on a sticky wicket

Whether the CBI got what it was looking for during the raid at Delhi Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar's office is difficult to ascertain, but the political drama that followed seems to have put the BJP on a sticky wicket.

New Delhi: BJP member Kirti Azad at Parliament during the winter session in New Delhi on Monday. PTI Photo by Manvender Vashist(PTI12_21_2015_000093B)

Nishant Shekhar

New DelhiDecember 23, 2015 11:42 PM IST First published on: Dec 23, 2015 at 08:46 PM IST

BJP member Kirti Azad at Parliament during the winter session in New Delhi.

Whether the CBI got what it was looking for during the raid at Delhi Principal Secretary Rajendra Kumar’s office is difficult to ascertain, but the political drama that followed seems to have put the BJP on a sticky wicket.

Amid charges that the BJP government was indulging in political vendetta against the Congress in the National Herald case, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged that the Cente was trying to target him and Rajendra Kumar was just an excuse.

While the BJP was challenging Kejriwal’s allegations, the AAP chief found an unlikely ally in BJP’s Darbhanga MP Kirti Azad who has in the past also raised allegations of financial bungling in the DDCA during Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s tenure. Azad held a press conference alleging massive corruption in the Delhi cricket body and released a video of DDCA meeting showing Jaitley defending DDCA office-bearers who were accused of corruption.
Watch Video DDCA row: BJP Suspends Kirti Azad

Demanding an investigation by the Enforcement Directorate and Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, Azad alleged that DDCA awarded contracts to fictitious companies and inflated prices of items and services it procured. The series of press conferences, allegations and counter allegations that followed resulted in Jaitley filing a defamation case against Kejriwal and others. While Jaitley spared Azad, the MP has now been suspended from the BJP for going against party senior leader.

The suspension of Azad shows the BJP has been driven to a corner by the double-pronged attack from Kejriwal and Azad, giving fodder to the Opposition Congress. The party, already struggling from consecutive losses in Delhi and Bihar as well as debate over the growing intolerance in the country, will now have to fight hard to regain lost ground.

# Kirti Azad