Bharatiya Janata Party President Nitin Gadkari, on Wednesday differed with his colleague Sushma Swaraj, over the issue of the appointment of Chief Vigilance Commissioner P J Thomas. Swaraj had earlier said that after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh accepted the blame for the appointment after the apex court struck it down, the issue was now over and it was time to move on.
"The CVC issue is far from over and we would take it up during our nationwide campaign against Thomas's appointment and the Supreme Court's order. We would also raise the issue of black money and rising prices during our campaign which begins on April 6," Gadkari told mediapersons at a press conference held at the party headquarters in New Delhi.
When asked if this was the final stand and if there was a difference of perception between Arun Jaitley and Sushma Swaraj, Gadkari said that he was making the statement in his capacity as the party president. Asked why the party was not asking for the
resignation of Singh, who had accepted moral responsibility for Thomas' appointment, he said, "The party would leave it to the prime minister to decide whether he should continue or resign."
He claimed that Rs 22,000 lakh crore was stashed away at offshore tax havens but the government was doing little about it. "The Supreme Court has taken the government to task on the Hassan Ali issue, and has passed strictures against the United Progressive Alliance government and its mismanagement in the 2G spectrum scam. While the court directed the government to release the names of the persons with offshore bank accounts, the government has taken the plea that doing so would not be proper," he remarked.
Asked if Lal Krishna Advani did not harm his campaign by asking Congress president Sonia Gandhi if she felt hurt, Gadkari said that it was normal courtesy. "Advani
ji did nothing wrong by expressing regret. It has not done any harm to our cause," he said.