BJP takes offence to PM's remarks against Oppn

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday took offence to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's contention that the opposition was raking up P Chidambaram's name in the 2-G spectrum scam as it wanted early elections, and said it was akin to making a mockery of the whole issue.

"The Prime Minister's statement is deeply regrettable and unfortunate. While we are demanding a probe in the issue, he has said the opposition wants early polls. This is making a mockery of the whole issue," BJP chief spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

A meeting of the BJP top brass was held at senior party leader L K Advani to discuss the issue.

Those present included Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj, her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley, and senior leaders Gopinath Munde, S S Ahluwalia, Prasad and Haren Pathak.

Prasad also cast aspersions on the CBI, saying while it is not making a case against the Union Home Minister, it had questioned former External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh in the case. Singh headed the GOM on Telecom during NDA rule.

BJP will come out with a structured response during a media interaction by Jaitley and Swaraj tomorrow to the Prime Minister's remarks.

On his way back home after his visit to New York, Singh told reporters on board that attempts were being made to "destabilise polity" and accused the Opposition of getting "prematurely restless" to "force" early elections.