INDIA

BJP to boycott Sushilkumar Shinde in Parliament

PTI | Feb 02, 2013, 11:09AM IST

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New Delhi: The BJP on Friday decided to boycott all public programmes of home minister Sushilkumar Shinde and not respond to any communication from him to the party top brass in his capacity as Leader of the House in Lok Sabha to protest against his Hindu terror remarks till he tenders an apology.The decision was taken in the first Core Group meeting of BJP after Rajnath Singh took over as party President on January 23.

"The Core Group observed that Shinde's remarks have hurt Hindu sentiments and called Hindus and saints terrorists. It condemned his comments that BJP and RSS run terror training camps. The party has decided that its members and workers will boycott all public programmes in which Shinde is taking part. He will be shown black flags," BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar told reporters.

BJP will also not respond to any communication or request for meetings from Shinde to the party's senior parliamentarians, including NDA Working chairperson LK Advani and Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj.

Shinde, who is leader of the house in Lok Sabha, may find it difficult to get government business through during the forthcoming budget session of Parliament if BJP does not respond to his calls for discussions on crucial issues.

However, Rajnath Singh said his party does not intend to boycott Shinde inside Parliament and will not disrupt proceedings when he rises to speak.

"But we will raise this issue (Shinde's remarks on Hindu terror) in Parliament," he said.

Significantly, this strategy of BJP appears to be a slight climbdown as the party had earlier insisted that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi should apologise for Shinde's remarks and that he should be sacked from the post of home minister.