New Delhi: With the BJP and the Central government unleashing an aggressive campaign against the Gandhi clan on the VVIP helicopter scam, a section of the party has warned against taking any “strong action” against the Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi. This faction is subtly trying to remind the party of the Congress’ resurgence after the then Janata government had arrested Indira Gandhi in the late 1970s.
Despite the BJP’s aggressive attempts to brand Mrs Gandhi as a “foreigner” and targeting her “Italian connection”, a section in the saffron camp believes “she still commands respect across the country, and it could be suicidal for the party to take action against her”.
With Mrs Gandhi taking an aggressive line, the situation has got more “delicate for the party”, they feel. Sensing that any move to take action against Mrs Gandhi could boomerang on the Narendra Modi government, Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal had Saturday dared Prime Minister Narendra Modi to arrest her. Taking a swipe, Mr Kejriwal said: “Modiji doesn’t even dare to ask Soniaji about this scam.”
As the top BJP leadership continues to bring the roof down on the helicopter scam, some in the organisation wondered if the charges that are being levelled against Mrs Gandhi will even stick. A senior BJP leader, while speaking to this newspaper on condition of anonymity, argued that the “Italian court verdict did not indict Sonia”. He also referred to a TV interview by Milan court judge Macro Maiga, who said there was “no evidence against Sonia Gandhi... only a mention of her in a fax”. The fax apparently speaks of Mrs Gandhi as “someone who will fly the helicopters”. The BJP leader felt that “all these will prove nothing”.
This section of the saffron party, that is wary of action against the Gandhis, is, however, in a minority. A majority of the saffron brigade feels that the helicopter deal “will prove the final nail in the Congress coffin”.
Contradciting that view, though, the other side claimed the VVIP helicopter deal has “no electoral relevance”, and said the BJP “cannot win the UP elections on this issue”.
On the government’s attempts to equate the helicopter deal with Bofors, it was further pointed out that Bofors had united the entire Opposition against the Congress, with even the BJP and the Communists coming on one platform against the Rajiv Gandhi government. “The helicopter deal has not only failed to unite political outfits against the Congress, it also failed to make any impact on the electorate,” the BJP leader said. He added that “by losing the general election, the Congress has already paid the price for corruption... Instead of harping on Agusta, our government has to deliver”.
