We respect not individual, but office of President: Advani

Advani, who was addressing the national executive of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, accused the UPA leadership of “callous disregard towards keeping the office of President away from the suspicion of any kind of taint”.

“India’s new Rashtrapati will be sworn in tomorrow. The BJP considers the sanctity of the country’s highest constitutional office to be more important than the person who has been elected to occupy it. As a firm believer in the constitutional order, my party will continue to show due respect to the office of the President of India,” Advani said.

The BJP leader said the campaign provoked all right-thinking people in the country to seriously debate the choice made by the UPA. “The UPA leadership showed callous disregard for keeping the office of President away from the suspicion of any kind of taint,” he said.

Advani said he took “strong exception to the Prime Minister’s remark that the outcome of the election is UPA’s victory over “divisive forces”. “I wish he did some honest introspection on the serious issues that were highlighted by the media.” He said the UPA won the election only because of the numerical domination in the electoral college and would have lost had the general public voted.

Claiming that the campaign against Patil was not against “any particular individual”, Advani said “it was against the UPA’s evident unconcern about issues of corruption and criminalisation”.