After Nitin Gadkari shocks India with UN-Pakistan demand, BJP beats hasty retreat

Contradicting its President Nitin Gadkari, BJP today said there was no need to raise in the United Nations the issue of beheading of an Indian soldier by Pakistan.

The demand was in synch with Pakistan's proposal to take the issue to the UN, however, this was not against India's official stance which was not to internationalise the issue.

"We should not approach anybody," said party spokesperson Prakash Javadekar when asked if the party felt the need to raise the matter before the United Nations.

"I expect the government of India to take this up in the United Nations. We should raise the issue in international platforms to isolate Pakistan...The Prime Minister should not keep quiet," BJP chief Nitin Gadkari had said in Mathura.

The issue was also raised by the National Security Adviser Shivshankar Menon during his meeting with Leaders of the Opposition yesterday.

While Menon explained that government was against such a step as it would internationalise the issue, Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley is understood to have told Menon that this was not the party's position and Gadkari's comments might have been misunderstood.

BJP today demanded government takes concrete "real action" to make Pakistan understand that it should not dare to commit such a "barbaric" act again.

"We have to expose Pakistan at every available opportunity," said Javadekar.

"It is not a matter of condemnation or verbal response. It needs a real response and this is the time when we can get a response whereby Pakistan will not indulge in such an act again," Javadekar said.

Upping the ante against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, BJP said when the whole nation was outraged over the beheading incident, "even the verbal response from the Prime Minister came after a week. This is the weakness of the Prime Minister," the BJP spokesperson said.

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