January 19, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 18, 1426

NEW DELHI: The BJP’s move to take on the Congress over the Bofors controversy suffered a setback following differences surfacing over the issue in the saffron camp.

BJP president Rajnath Singh stayed away from the protest rally in the capital on Tuesday against the Centre’s move to give a clean chit to Italian businessman Ottavio Quattrocchi and party general secretary Arun Jaitley skipped the media briefing on Bofors payoffs that he was expected to hold. Asked the reason for his absence from the rally, Mr Rajnath Singh said that since it was being organised by the BJP’s Delhi state unit, he was “not supposed to go.” Reminded that Mr Jaitley had announced his participation in the rally, Mr Singh replied: “That was a communication gap.” Mr Jaitley claimed that he was “told by the Delhi state unit of Mr Singh’s participation.”

As Mr Rajnath Singh stayed away from the rally, Mr Jaitley failed to attend the press briefing on the Bofors issue since he suddenly had a “stomach ache.” It was then left to additional spokesman Prakash Javdekar to brief the media on Bofors. However, he spent most of the time answering the reasons for Mr Rajnath Singh’s absence from the rally and Mr Jaitley’s absence from the briefing.

Mr Jaitley on Monday had announced that the BJP chief would lead the party’s move to hit the streets on the Bofors case, the BJP’s media cell sent out SMSes in the morning announcing Mr Jaitley’s scheduled press conference at 4 pm on the issue. Mr Singh’s detractors in the party claimed that he did not attend the rally since it was “poorly attended” and that he was “upset with Jaitley for hogging the limelight on the issue.—By arrangement with The Asianage