BJP smells blood in Lok Sabha win, says let's go to RS now

BJP smells blood in Lok Sabha win, says let's go to RS now
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

NEW DELHI, December 15: The BJP has scented blood after yesterday's win in the Lok Sabha on the Ayodhya motion. So much so that today it agreed to debate the issue in the Rajya Sabha on Monday, under a rule entailing voting, knowing fully well that it doesn't have the numbers there.

The Opposition-sponsored motion broadly says that the House disagrees with the Prime Minister's clean chit to the three Ministers chargesheeted in the Babri Masjid demolition case.

Until now, the party had been resisting a Rajya Sabha discussion since a defeat there would have meant censure of the three chargesheeted ministers.

But claiming that the Lok Sabha has given them a clean chit, the BJP has now decided to cash in.

Leading from the front was Home Minister L K Advani, who along with Uma Bharti and M M Joshi, has been chargesheeted in the demolition case. He asserted today he wasn't ashamed of his ideology. And shrugging off the CBI chargesheet, he said: ``I am surprised at the charges they have levelled made against me''.

This aggressive mood was evident at a luncheon party hosted by Rural Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu today. Party leaders said that the BJP's workers had been galvanized by the PM's ``commitment'' to the temple cause.

``Yes, we know we won't win in Rajya Sabha but losing there won't make much of a difference to the position of the three Ministers who are mainly responsible to the Lok Sabha,'' said spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra.

Malhotra cites example of similar motions being passed against former Prime Ministers Chaudhury Charan Singh and Morarji Desai in 1977-78 since the then ruling Janata Party did not have a majority in Rajya Sabha. ``When it did not affect their position, how can it affect the continuance of Joshi, Uma and Advani in the Union Cabinet,'' Malhotra said.