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While refusing to admit that Petroleum Minister Ram Naik was involved in the petrol pump allotment scandal, Bharatiya Janata Party president M Venkaiah Naidu said the BJP was evolving a system in which people in high places would not seek the appointment of or concessions to family members.
"There is no need to have an agreement on this," Naidu said on arrival in Panjim on Friday on a countrywide tour of all state units of the BJP. "Once the party decides, everybody has to follow the system."
He said that even if such appointments or concessions were merited, they should be avoided because of the scope for misunderstanding.
Dubbing "absurd" the opposition demand for the resignation of Naik as well as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in connection with the controversy, Naidu claimed that Naik had brought greater transparency to the petroleum ministry while improving upon the "wrong system" instituted by the Congress in 1983.
He dismissed the allegation that Vajpayee had cancelled all the allotments because of favouritism in the selection. "Such actions indicate that this is a government with a difference," he claimed. "They have committed no sin, why should they resign?"
On the contrary, he said, the people would lose all confidence in the opposition parties as their action of stalling Parliament was a clear indication that they were shying away from a debate.
According to him, the Congress is more upset because Naik replaced all its political appointees on the dealer selection boards with non-political persons like retired judges.
He also did not agree that the issue would have an adverse impact on the Gujarat election.
Naidu denied that former Gujarat chief minister Keshubhai Patel was not co-operating with the party any longer, and pointed out that he had been named to head the campaign committee for the assembly election in the state.
Commenting on Shankarsinh Vaghela's appointment as state Congress president, Naidu said he was happy that the Congress had chosen a former member of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh as its leader. "I wish them best of luck," he remarked.
Click here to read an interview with Venkaiah Naidu
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