New Delhi, July 5
Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh today stirred a controversy when he virtually confirmed that the NDA had planned to bring down the UPA government in July 2007 by offering the Prime Ministership to any candidate of the United National Progressive Alliance (UNPA) in return for its support for Bhairon Singh Shekhawat in the Presidential poll.
Asked to comment on Samajwadi Party (SP) leader Amar Singh’s recent statement that the NDA had offered the Prime Ministership to Mulayam Singh Yadav through its emissary Jaswant Singh to enlist the UNPA’s support for Shekhawat, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha said he did meet the UNPA leaders in a five-star hotel in New Delhi at the instance of the NDA leadership.
“I was authorised by the NDA to meet the UNPA leaders. I met AIADMK leader Jayalalitha and offered NDA’s outside support to any UNPA candidate for the Prime Ministership … A, B or C and not to any individual,” Jaswant Singh said at the press conference of BJP Prime Ministerial candidate L.K. Advani.
