Jethmalani: Wait for more

May 31, 2013

Possessing a brilliant legal mind, and with loquacity his password, Ram Jethmalani would have known he was courting trouble when he launched a move to get Nitin Gadkari ousted as BJP president sometime back.

Mr Gadkari had to step down due to the disconcerting campaign against him within the party. At a time when it was seeking to target the Congress leadership over corruption, the BJP could hardly afford to have a chief with allegations of taint chasing him both outside and inside the party.
But since Mr Gadkari was the RSS’ Man Friday, there was no way
Mr Jethmalani would save his neck. The blow has come now, after a decent interval.
Expulsion with a six-year ban should usually mean curtains for the pugnacious 89-year-old legal luminary. But if the mercurial Mr Jethmalani decides to do his worst to get even with his former party, he can be a difficult customer. In election season he may be relied upon to embarrass the saffronites.
If the BJP hasn’t taken disciplinary action against the likes of Yashwant Sinha and Jaswant Singh, not to say L.K. Advani, for asking for Mr Gadkari’s head, it is because the party doesn’t want to antagonise too many at one go, specially since Lok Sabha elections are round the corner. Of this lot, Mr Sinha may well stay afloat as he has pitched himself into Narendra Modi’s tent.

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