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Khurana accuses Thakre of suffocating him

Madan Lal Khurana, who resigned from the Union Cabinet today, has accused Bharatiya Janata Party president Shashikant 'Kushabhau' Thakre of choking his voice and not allowing him to raise in party fora issues that are damaging the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government's image.

Addressing his first press conference after submitting his resignation, Khurana said he had been feeling "suffocated" after he was denied permission to speak at the Jaipur and Bangalore sessions of the party's national executive.

He said he had wanted to speak on the adverse comments made by a Union minister [Human Resources Development Minister Murli Manohar Joshi] and a senior party functionary at the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad meeting in Bombay on the insurance and patents bills and the attacks on Christians in Gujarat.

In Bangalore, he said, he saw Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee get very upset by the outbursts of the same minister and some "Sangh Parivar members".

On returning to Delhi, he had tendered his resignation to Vajpayee on January 7. "I also resigned from the executive on the same day and informed the party president in writing," he said.

Khurana said Thakre neither responded to his resignation nor called him for an audience. So he wrote again to both leaders on January 24.

Today, he said, he received a letter from Thakre informing him that his resignation from the executive had been accepted. But Thakre said nothing about the January 7 letter.

Khurana said he would disclose the contents of the letters tomorrow.

He clarified that he had resigned from the council of ministers only to save Vajpayee from the charge that he [Khurana] was acting at the prime minister's behest.

Khurana wondered how it was a crime to raise the issue of attacks on Christians when in 1984 he had been praised by the party for taking up the Sikh cause after the riots in Delhi.

He said the recent incidents in Gujarat and Orissa and some irresponsible statements by members of the Parivar had denigrated the image of the Vajpayee government and the country.

When he met Vajpayee today, the prime minister said, "You are becoming a martyr because of me."

Khurana expressed gratitude to Vajpayee for having accepted his resignation.

He clarified that he continued to be an active member of the Bharatiya Janata Party with which he has been associated since its birth in 1951 as the Jana Sangh.

UNI

EARLIER REPORT:
Thakre wants Khurana sacked

The Christian attacks row

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