Everybody free in BJP to kick ‘ideological football’: Jaswant

New Delhi: Jaswant Singh, who was unceremoniously ousted from BJP for ‘attacking’ the party’s core ideology, had described the saffron organisation as an open field where one gets to kick an ideological football everyday.

The 9 June letter Singh had written to the party’s core group calling for a deep review of the outcome of the Lok Sabha elections raised the hackles of the party leadership.

The letter, which had also set the stage for his expulsion two-and-a-half-months later, had lamented that the analyses of the defeat in the 2004 parliamentary elections and Rajasthan Assembly polls had not been made public.

“The party has become an open field where one gets an ideological football every day. Everybody is free to kick it anywhere as there is no goalpost,” Singh (71), had said in the letter.

In the missive that brought him into confrontation with the top party brass, Singh raised questions about rewards and performance of leaders during the elections.

“When the top leadership can accept responsibility, why not us or those managing the party affairs. Is there no link between rewards and results? Or do we claim credit for success and lay the blame for failure at other’s door?” he said.