Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley was gently chided by BJP Parliamentary Party chairman L K Advani on Tuesday for going against the party’s parliamentary strategy. Jaitley was told that in future he should align himself with the party strategy.
Advani’s chiding of sorts came during a meeting of the BJP Parliamentary Party, after senior leader Yashwant Sinha appealed to the Rajya Sabha leaders that “they too, like their Lok Sabha counterparts, should stick to the party plan for the day for the BJP parliamentary strategy to be effective”.
On Monday, the party had stalled the Lok Sabha proceedings over rape of a child in Delhi, besides the leaked 2G JPC draft that gave clean chit to both the Prime Minister and Finance Minister.
The party had on Monday planned to get its voice heard in the Upper House also by stalling the proceedings.
But instead, the Rajya Sabha saw a full-fledged debate over the Delhi rape in the afternoon. “When we make a strategy for a given day, we should see to it that it is implemented in toto, and not in parts, like what we witnessed yesterday,” said Advani, on the lack of synergy between party wings in the two Houses on Monday.
This was confirmed to Express by BJP Chief Whip in the Lok Sabha Ramesh Bais. Asked if it was more of a warning to Jaitley, Bais said it was more of a “gentle reminder” to Jaitley to stick to the party line. This is not the first time that the party leadership felt Jaitley was going against the party line.
On the SC/ST reservation in job promotions issue, the overwhelming view in the leadership, including that of BJP president Rajnath Singh and Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, was to oppose the bill on SC/ST reservation in job promotions.
However, under Jaitley’s leadership, the BJP cooperated with the UPA Government in the Rajya Sabha and allowed its passage.