Saturday, August 20 2005 18:13 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Ahmedabad: Union Textile Minister Shankersingh Vaghela today (Aug 20,2005) described the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of which he was a former member, as a "system failure" party, in connection with the ongoing turmoil, including the campaign to oust Chief Minister Narendra Modi.

I have been member of this party earlier so I know that it is a system failure party," Vaghela told reporters here today (Aug 20,2005) during a blood donation camp. He added, "Whenever BJP has won with a majority in any state they have lost footing and proved to be instable in a few years".

Vaghela said that the ongoing fracas in the BJP was an internal matter of the saffron party and that their senior leaders should be able to handle the matter. Answering to a question if he agreed with senior BJP leader Madan Lal Khurana who has sought Modi's resignation in regards with the post-Godhra riots just as Congress leader Jagdish Tytler had done recently, the Union Minister said "the BJP President and the state government should apologise to the people of Gujarat for the atrocities as the Prime Minister himself has apologised for the anti-Sikh riots of 1984".

Asked if he saw any difference between the BJP in 1995 (when he had instigated a rebellion against Keshubhai) and the party in 2005 (when Keshubhai has raised banner of revolt against Modi), Vaghela said that he was "happy that he is not in the party (BJP) any more and that many in the party were happy that he was not with them either".