Now, Sharad takes a swipe at old regime

Even as BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley today claimed the ‘‘glue of anti-BJPism’’ alone was keeping the UPA together,...

Even as BJP general secretary Arun Jaitley today claimed the ‘‘glue of anti-BJPism’’ alone was keeping the UPA together, the glue that kept the NDA together appeared to be wearing thin with senior JD(U) leader Sharad Yadav joining the chorus blaming the Gujarat riots for the NDA’s defeat.

In an interview to a Hindi weekly, Yadav also attacked the previous regime’s disinvestment policy and praised the UPA for having reduced the ‘‘commual tensions’’.

Significantly, he also took a swipe at colleague George Fernandes for allowing himself to be strip-searched in the US, indicating that the intra-party tensions that have been simmering since the NDA’s defeat are far from over.

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On the Gujarat riots, Yadav claimed he had always felt strongly about it and had taken it up with then PM A.B. Vajpayee more than once. With TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu, Yadav also ‘‘decided to go for a fight to finish but he issued a separate statement and it could not proceed further.’’

Echoing Naidu’s statement some time ago, Yadav said, ‘‘Gujarat was a major cause for the NDA’s defeat, and even in the BJP, there is a churning of thoughts on this issue.’’

Arun Jaitley, meanwhile, sought to downplay Yadav’s remarks on Gujarat by pointing out that top BJP leaders, including then deputy PM L.K. Advani, had decribed the riots as a ‘‘blot’’ on the NDA’s record of ‘‘riot-free’’ rule. It was only ‘‘natural’’ for any NDA leader to express unhappiness with the Gujarat riots, he said.

However, Yadav’s remarks were not confined to Gujarat.

Claiming that the disinvestment policy was also responsible for the NDA’s defeat, he said as civil aviation minister he had not allowed disinvestment in Air India and Indian Airlines and had also opposed the privatisation of Centaur hotel in Mumbai.

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As for Fernandes, Yadav was quoted as saying, ‘‘There are many people who are eager to travel to Europe and America but are humiliated. Such people allow themselves to be stripped and searched there…it does not affect these shameless people.’’

Asked if he was referring to Fernandes, the JD(U) leader said, ‘‘I am not taking any names but there is need to take a resolve to foresake the desire to travel abroad as Mahama Gandhi and Mao did.’’