BJP left red-faced by 'inflammatory' CD?
New Delhi : The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be embarrassed by a CD that could inflame communal passions and has been released by a senior party leader ahead of the Uttar Pradesh polls.
Lalji Tandon, the BJP leader in the Uttar Pradesh assembly, released it in Lucknow Tuesday. Some TV channels that got the disc at his press conference described it as "highly provocative and inflammatory about a particular community".
Many BJP leaders are wondering how the disc got released.
Uttar Pradesh BJP president Kesrinath Tripathi said the CD was supposed to go to the Election Commission for vetting and was to be released only after clearance from the poll panel. Disowning its contents, Tripathi said he was not aware what the CD contained.
Even central leaders of the BJP, specially its two Muslims faces, Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi and minority cell convenor Syed Shahnawaz Husain, are avoiding the media over the CD. While Naqvi pleaded that he was busy, Husain has switched off his phone.
Tandon himself has pleaded ignorance about its contents even though the acknowledgements made in the disc include his name, said TV channels.
BJP sources said the CD was originally made in the run up to the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992.
The release of the CD coincides with the warning issued by the Election Commission that the situation in the state is very hostile and that communal violence could break out during the election campaign.
The Election Commission said it would take notice only when the affected party brought it to its attention.
