BJP president Rajnath Singh will lead a march to Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde’s house on Wednesday - a day ahead of the Budget session - to protest against his Hindu terror remarks.
The BJP will continue to oppose Shinde, who is also the leader of house in Lok Sabha, in Parliament till he withdraws his comments. Shinde, during the Congress’ Jaipur Chintan Shivir in January, had said both BJP and RSS camps were training grounds for terrorists.
The party will also vociferously raise the AgustaWestland helicopter deal to corner the government. The BJP sharpened its strategy for the budget session during the meeting of party’s parliamentary board at senior leader L K Advani’s house on Tuesday.
Rajnath said, “I am demanding a comprehensive investigation into this helicopter scam. Whoever is guilty should be punished.
Party spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said, “There is a scam in this government before every session of Parliament. Earlier it was the coal allocation scam and now the helicopter scam. The ministers in this government are speaking in different voices on the scam. While the Defence Minister is saying we will scrap the deal, the External Affairs Minister is against it.”
Talking about the party’s protest against Shinde, Prasad said, “BJP has taken a serious view of remarks made by Shinde. We have demanded that he should apologise. The details of how we will go about our protest in Parliament are a question of strategy which cannot be divulged. But our demand is emphatic. Shinde is not just a Home Minister he is also the leader of the LS.”
The BJP will begin its protest at Jantar Mantar after which they will try to move towards Shinde’s house. The UPA Government, which is already under pressure because of the chopper deal, is likely to be further cornered by the BJP over his boycott Shinde strategy.
Party sources said many of its MPs have given notice for discussion on helicopter deal, price rise and is also likely to raise issues like beheading of Indian soldiers at LOC among other things.