DNA
 
New Delhi, May 10: The BJP leadership is contemplating ways to wriggle out of the Election Commission’s directive to urgently make an official declaration “condemning, without any reservation whatsoever” the contents of the controversial CD.

The BJP may have taken a tough official stance against the EC, but senior leaders privately express satisfaction with the order having been let off lightly -  from being threatened with de-recognition to being merely condemned. The party’s deputy leader in Lok Sabha V K Malhotra has maintained there was no need for the party to condemn it, as it had already disapproved and disassociated with the said CD. Other senior leaders in the party feel that since the EC was a constitutional body, a confrontation with it should be avoided and an easy way should be found to comply with the EC’s directive.

Keeping all these nuances in mind, a draft statement is expected to be prepared by the party’s top legal brain, Arun Jaitley, in consultation with Ravi Shankar Prasad. The statement would be released before the EC’s May 15 deadline, and as directed a copy of the statement along with a video would be handed over to the EC. It could be timed with the announcement of the UP poll results on May 11.

Meanwhile, the CPI(M) has said the EC should take action if the BJP refuses to publicly condemn the contents of the CD. Expressing disappointment that the EC directive came too late, Rajya Sabha MP and politburo member Sitaram Yechury said, “This should have been done before the elections were over in UP.”

Earlier, the CPI(M), in its representation to the Commission, had stated that it is not enough for the BJP to disassociate itself from the CD and that it should publicly apologize and condemn the contents of the CD. “The BJP leadership has to comply with the decision of the Election Commission and issue an unqualified condemnation of the contents of the CD.  In case it fails to do so, the Election Commission should take further action, so that the use of communal propaganda and hate campaign during the elections is put an end to,” said a statement issued by the politburo.