JOIN USJethmalani launches fresh attack on BJP
Unnerved by the party’s decision to suspend him for airing his views on CBI director appointment that amounted to supporting Congress, a belligerent Jethmalani on Tuesday launched a fresh attack against the BJP leadership.
Describing his suspension as “ultra vires” in a fresh letter to the party president, Jethmalani said Gadkari suspended him on the advice of Jaitley.
In the same letter he made a scathing remark on the party chief. “I am convinced that you are firmly set on the path of suicide and you are determined to drag the whole party with you. ‘Vinash kal Vipreet Buddhi (when one is set to be doomed he loses his mind)’ is an old maxim,” the Rajya Sabha member said.
Previously, Jethmalani had said: “I am a man of intelligence. I will not follow orders issued by Arun Jaitley”.
Jaitley, on the other hand, ignored Jethmalani’s remark. “I don’t think he deserves a reply anymore,” he quipped.
The clash between two leading lawyers of the country, provoked by veteran Jethmalani has to do with their profession. The cases argued by Jethmalani and Jaitley, who is junior by experience and in age to the former, for different people have also fuelled their own perception about each other.
Jethmalani believes that Jaitley, and to some extent Swaraj, wrote the letter to the prime minister opposing Ranjit Sinha’s appointment as the premier agency’s next chief owing to their proximity to Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar. The city commissioner who enjoys respect in the police fraternity did not figure among the top three IPS officers shortlisted for the prestigious job. Jethmalani, in his letter had charged that the letter was “possibly instigated by a most undesirable rival (hinting at Kumar) who withdrew his petition before the CAT”.
Unfounded accusation
However, BJP leaders claimed that Jethmalani’s charge against Jaitley and Sushma was unfounded since their leaders might have come across Kumar in social gatherings but did not know him personally.
“I said the prime minister, for a change, did something good, and stopped an undeserving candidate. The Congress never does such good work. They (BJP) say you spoke in favour of the Congress. Opposition does not mean oppose for the sake of opposition,” Jethmalani said.
That Jethmalani’s ego has been hurt is also visible from that the fact that the party seeks advice of Jaitley on not only legal matters, but also for firefighting political crises. But, the veteran lawyer has been ignored, despite thinking that he is more capable and renowned than Jaitley.
“Though I am a senior member of the Rajya Sabha and a founder of the BJP, your present leaders either in the Lok Sabha or Rajya Sabha have never once discussed with me anything about the Lokpal bill. I did not know until I learnt from the press that the appointment of the new incumbent was opposed by our leaders on some different grounds,” wrote Jethmalani.