Jaipur: Senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh had been keeping a low profile of late but when he returned to headlines it was in controversy.
Singh allegedly served opium to guests at a function in his home in Barmer district’s Jasol village on Wednesday. He insists it was not opium but a traditional saffron mix.
"No opium was served at my function—it was a mix of gangajal, kesar, jaggery and tea,” says Singh, who was the External Affairs Minister in the NDA Government.
But Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje's supporters smell a rat. Not at the suggestion that Singh held a traditional Rajasthani rave party, but that he is trying to brew rebellion among BJP ministers and MLAs who were his guests.
Singh didn’t invite Raje to the function, but MLAs who had skipped the Chief Minister’s state executive meeting in Chittorgarh last week were present at his function.
The Congress demanded action against BJP leaders who attended Singh’s function and “consumed” opium. “BJP ministers are fighting on the roads and want to glamourise their dissent by consuming opium in public—they must be prosecuted,” said Congress Spokesperson Raghu Sharma.
Jaswant Singh denies working against Raje but added fuel to the fire with this explanation. “Women are traditionally not invited to such functions,” he said.
Some months Singh’s wife had filed a case against Raje's supporters for depicting the Chief Minister as goddess Durga. Now, as elections loom in the state, the fight within the two BJP leaders has become bitter.
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