New Delhi: Dissension surfaced in the NDA, as the BJP decided to keep up its campaign for sacking of minority affairs minister AR Antulay over his remarks doubting ATS chief Hemant Karkares death at the hands of Pakistani terrorists, while NDA ally Janata Dal (U) has been supporting the minister.

The BJP parliamentary party at a meeting on Tuesday morning discussed the Antulay issue and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha LK Advani launched a frontal attack on the Congress-led UPA government, accusing it of playing "vote-bank politics".
BJP deputy leader in the Rajya Sabha Sushma Swaraj said the partys office-bearers meeting would be held on Wednesday to take the campaign forward.

She said Advani had told the meeting on Tuesday, "On one hand, the government is challenging Pakistan, on the other, Antulay is giving statements to help Pakistan prove its innocence. The UPA government cannot talk tough with Pakistan if it allows its ministers to talk the language of Pakistan, which is claiming innocence in the Mumbai terror attacks," Advani said.

Swaraj said the Congress was "worried about its vote bank slipping away due to the anti-terror law" and had thus fielded Antulay to "placate" Muslims. Asked if the BJP implied that Muslims supported Pakistan, she said, "This is the Congress thinking. It is this mindset which puts the minority community in the dock."

She said Antulays statement reflected a dangerous mindset because of which questions were raised about the encounter in Batla House at Jamia Nagar, Delhi; inspector MC Sharmas death in that encounter; and the killing of Karkare by terrorists.

The BJP, however, had no answer to the opposite stand taken by the JD(U). "Different parties in the NDA can have different views," said Swaraj. JD(U) president and NDA convener Sharad Yadav also preferred to treat his party MPs statements as "non-issues" which were "best ignored".

JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP from Bihar, Ejaz Ali, who has been backing AR Antulay on his recent controversial remarks, said on Tuesday that his party should snap its ties with the BJP.

"Voting for the NDA in Lok Sabha elections means voting for Lal Krishna Advani as prime minister, which Muslims wont accept. Its time the JD(U) parted ways with the BJP," Ali said.
Source : Central