BJP senior L. Ganesan flayed Left parties for displaying “holier than thou” attitude and dared them to explain why the JNU agitation was “deliberately” chosen on the anniversary of execution of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
Speaking on various issues, he says, the JNU row will not affect the party’s poll prospects in Tamil Nadu. “We have not closed our doors to our allies of 2014 Lok Sabha election whom we want to continue with us…we are also open to new parties joining NDA,” he says.
Excerpts of the interview to Siva Prasanna Kumar.
Q: The four-party led People’s Welfare Front (PWF) is demanding BJP national secretary H. Raja to retract his controversial remarks on JNU stir and CPI leader D. Raja’s daughter. Will the PWF agitation affect BJP’s poll prospects?
A: Most unlikely. D. Raja’s daughter did participate in the agitation. Why did they deliberately choose the day of hanging of Afzal Guru to agitate? Is he above nation? For BJP and also for everyone in the country, nation comes first.
Q: Is there any justification in CPI (M) General secretary Prakash Karat demanding scrapping of sedition clause in IPC?
A: It is the court that should decide and not Communists. Investigation into alleged ‘anti-national’ slogans raised on JNU campus is on.
Q: You seem to have favoured an alliance with AIADMK. Will this be advantageous to BJP?
A: There is no point in aligning with DMK because Congress is with it. There is no question of entering into a poll pact with PWF in which left parties are constituents. So, if there is any other political party that remains neutral, it is the AIADMK.
This doesn’t mean we don’t want other parties that had been with us in the past. We want all parties which had been our allies during 2014 Lok Sabha elections to remain in our NDA and face the Assembly election together.
Q: What will be the BJP’s major poll plank in the Assembly poll?
A: A committee under H. Raja is in the process of preparing the manifesto. We want to project BJP as capable of providing a corruption-free government. This has been proved by the over 20-months able administration of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Q: What is your view on the Hindu Munnani’s DVD on the alleged Jihadi killings in Tamil Nadu?
A: I was not present at the launch of the DVD but I can say the killings of Hindu leaders have been going on for over two decades. Our (leader) Jana Krishnamurthy was brutally attacked while returning from a public meeting. Both DMK and AIADMK have been in power. The culprits have not been punished so far.
Q: Will you contest in this Assembly election?
A: I am not contesting this time. I have conveyed this to my party leaders.
