The Bharatiya Janata Party, which faced some embarrassment over excerpts released by a TV channel of an interview with senior party leader Lal Kishenchand Advani, on Tuesday called the pre-telecast transcript of the programme as "reporting with malicious intent".
The saffron party has found a whole lot of difference between the context in which Advani had spoken and the pre-telecast transcript of the interview with the former deputy prime minister.
"The transcript was nothing but a case of reporting with malicious intent. It was made to create sensation about the programme before its telecast, maybe for TRP reasons," BJP chief Rajnath Singh said.
News reports based on the transcript left the party in an awkward situation for a day with Advani quoted as saying that he would be the BJP's candidate for the prime minister's post, but he did not expect party veteran Atal Bihari Vajpayee to endorse his candidacy.
According to the excerpts released by the channel, he said his role in the party was that of a consultant now.
There was no discussion on the programme at the party's parliamentary party meeting. The meeting focused on the party's next moves in and outside Parliament over Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's remarks about plans for minorities.
Rajnath Singh told reporters that the BJP would hold a nationwide campaign from December 15 to December 20 over Dr Singh's comments at the NDC meeting on Saturday.
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