Won't resign from party, will carry on fight: Jethmalani

Bharatiya Janata Party's Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani, who has demanded the resignation of Nitin Gadkari over 'dubious' funding of his company, on Wednesday said he will carry on his fight against the BJP President but will not quit the party.

"I will carry on my fight alone if necessary, whatever the BJP might decide...I won't resign from the party, because I want to carry on the fight. Why should I?" Jethmalani said when asked if he was considering resigning from the party after Gadkari got a reprieve following RSS support.

Jethmalani, however, left it to the BJP leadership to decide on whether to allow Gadkari to continue. "They are respectable people, they hear everything what is happening in the press. It is for them to decide," he said.

He said RSS ideologue S Gurumurthy had promised to send the documents relating to Gadkari's company to him with an explanatory note.

"He also promised that Gadkari will be willing to answer questions that you have to ask and he will come to you and answer those questions," the eminent lawyer said.

Jethmalani, who had created ripples yesterday by publicly demanding Gadkari's resignation and raised serious questions over his continuance as party chief, had softened his stand after his meeting with Gurumurthy on Tuesday evening, who tried to convince him that the allegations against Gadkari were baseless.

Jethmalani had said that he may like to ask questions to the BJP President in a bid to convince himself of his innocence and had demanded documents which may prove that BJP chief's company was not involved in dubious funding.

"I told him (Gurumurthy) that it may be necessary for me to ask Gadkari a few questions. He says don't worry about it. If you want to ask questions, Gadkari will answer them," Jethmalani had said after the meeting with Gurumurthy.

Gadkari has been under attack from various quarters after a media expose of the alleged dubious funding of a company run by him. He has refused to quit as BJP chief maintaining that he has offered himself for any probe on the issue.