Jaswant still loves post he got courtesy BJP

NEW DELHI: Former Union minister Jaswant Singh may have, post-expulsion, turned into the most vicious critic of BJP, but he���s not willing to quit the parliamentary post that he got from his old party���s quota.

Mr Singh, who was nominated by his erstwhile party to head Parliament���s Public Accounts Committee, a coveted post that is earmarked for the country���s principal Opposition, before relations between them turned hostile, has signalled his determination to hold on to the post.

Mr Singh is learnt to have conveyed his decision to Ms Sushma Swaraj, BJP���s deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, and her counterpart in the Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia, when they called on him at his official residence here on Monday.
The two BJP leaders are said to have urged Mr Singh to withdraw his nomination to enable BJP to name a new person for the post, but the latter reportedly turned down their request.

While nominating Mr Singh as its candidate for PAC chairman, BJP had also forwarded names of another former Union minister Yashwant Sinha and former Maharashtra deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde as members of the parliamentary panel. Mr Sinha too is a prominent dissident, who has been gunning for Mr L K Advani and his aides.

The PAC chairman enjoys a year���s term, but is normally extended for the entire tenure of the Lok Sabha. Mr Singh will get to head the panel for a year, but will have to rely on the Speaker���s discretion to continue clinging to the post beyond one year.

For BJP, it���s a piquant situation. The chairmanship of PAC, which was headed by Mr Vijay Kumar Malhotra in the previous Lok Sabha, is considered to be among the most prestigious parliamentary posts. The post, however, will now be chaired by a person who, since his expulsion from BJP, has emerged as one of the bitterest critics of the party.
Faced with a polite ���no��� from Mr Singh, BJP is now confronted with a dilemma. Having nominated him for the post, it can do very little to persuade him to give it up. Lok Sabha Speaker Meira Kumar, on her part, has adopted a hands-off approach, making it clear that her hands were tied by parliamentary rules and convention.

BJP���s season of woes, in the meanwhile, shows no signs of coming to an end, with another senior leader joining the letter-war that has enveloped the party. Former vice-president Pyarelal Khandelwal, a Murli Manohar Joshi camp-follower, has written identical letters to Mr Advani, BJP president Rajnath Singh and RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat, questioning the summary expulsion of Mr Jaswant Singh. A political lightweight, who has ceased to wield any clout within the organisational structure, Mr Khandelwal asked the party leadership reconsider the move.