Gadkari dogged, SP plans to move HC

A day after calling the Samajawadi Party and RJD leaders “dogs”, the BJP president, Mr Nitin Gadkari, is busy apologising for his remark. However, the RJD chief, Mr Lalu Prasad Yadav, wants the BJP chief to “hold his ears and apologise”. The SP, on the other hand, threatened to move court against Mr Gadkari for his “objectionable” comments against party chief, Mr Mulayam Singh Yadav and Mr Lalu Yadav.

Taking a dig at their own chief, some saffron functionaries said on Thursday afternoon: “Woh to bhav mein bah gaye (He got carried away).” An angry Mr Lalu Yadav, meanwhile, said, “We will first try to give Gadkari tablets to cure his mental bankruptcy, then put him on capsules, and if the tablets and capsules fail, we will put him on injections.” The official BJP stand is that now that Mr Gadkari has apologised, “the chapter is closed”.

On Mr Gadkari criticising the SP, RJD and BSP for not supporting the NDA during the cut motion, alleging that they did so out of fear of the CBI, Mr Lalu Yadav said the BJP president was spearheading a campaign against the CBI to save several leaders of his own party who had allegedly stashed “unaccounted black money” in Swiss banks. “The BJP president is desperate,” Mr Lalu Yadav said.

“Our president held a press conference in Chandigarh today and explained the whole issue. He very quickly retracted his statement and apologised,” the BJP spokesperson, Mr Nirmala Sitharaman, said. The Samajwadi Party spokesman, Mr Mohan Singh, said his party was seeking legal opinion to sue the BJP chief.