Fissures emerge in NDA as Rajnath Singh speaks out to defend his son Pankaj

The buzz-that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj was ticked off by none less than Prime Minister Modi for 'misconduct' - is about a month old in the Capital's gossiperati but its publication in a national daily on Wednesday is what really put the cat among the pigeons.

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Fissures emerge in NDA as Rajnath Singh speaks out to defend his son Pankaj
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh

Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh

The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government seems to have become upended in a whirlpool of rumour as it approaches the 100-day mark. The buzz-that Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh's son Pankaj was ticked off by none less than Prime Minister Modi for 'misconduct' - is about a month old in the Capital's gossiperati but its publication in a national daily on Wednesday is what really put the cat among the pigeons. The Bharatiya Janata Party reacted with uncharacteristic alarm, tying itself into frenzied knots of denial all around its saffron superstructure, the Prime Minister's Office included.

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By Wednesday evening, the denials had been made but murmurs of fissures opening within the Union Cabinet would not go away. As Pankaj Singh's alleged 'misconduct' morphed into different forms, the real damage was being done by the manner in which the allegations of impropriety surfaced. The controversy developed deeper import: who is the real No. 2 in Modi's Cabinet?

Wednesday had begun with Rajnath coming out strongly in defence of his son and himself, saying if any allegation against any member of his family is proved even prima facie he would "give up politics and public life, and sit at home". By afternoon, the Prime Minister's Office and BJP president Amit Shah had also joined the defence of Rajnath.

"For the last 15-20 days or so, rumours have been floating regarding my son. I was under the impression like all rumours, which have no basis, these would die a natural death, but they have only grown stronger with each passing day. I want to assure the nation that if any allegation, even the smallest one, is proved against either me or any of my family members, I will give up politics and public life, and sit at home," Rajnath said at a hurriedly called interaction with mediapersons outside his office in North Block.

The PMO and Shah then staunchly defended the home minister, dismissing reports of his son's alleged misconduct as "baseless", "plain lies" and "a malicious attempt at character assassination and tarnishing the government's image". Shah's statement said: "As the national president of the party, it is my belief that the conduct of all our ministers is of high standard and their integrity beyond doubt. All such propaganda against them is baseless and misleading," he said. Shah also condemned the allegations against the home minister's son.

According to Rajnath, he had conveyed the entire controversy to Prime Minister Modi and BJP president Shah. Both of them, reportedly, expressed "surprise" over the issue and termed the rumours as completely baseless. "I have told this to the prime minister and party president Amit Shah when we were sitting together. They have expressed surprise over this and termed it as completely baseless," Rajnath claimed.

BJP sources said this is indeed true. They said that it was at a party meet this last weekend that a clearly perturbed Rajnath brought up the issue with PM Modi and party president Amit Shah.

Rajnath, sources said, described the rumour-mongering as a deliberate and motivated attempt to malign the image of the party as well as the home minister himself. The rumours about Rajnath's alienation over his son not getting a ticket for the UP bypolls were also a source of heartburn for the minister for he does not want his son to contest the elections, sources said. Rajnath also made it clear that he had not taken the matter to the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), and that the previous such incident involving rumours about Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari being snooped on indicate that a fringe in the party was working to damage the top leadership.

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The all-important question that remained was: who did it? According to the buzz, Rajnath holds a ministerial colleague responsible for the rumours. Rajnath preferred to duck that issue and left it to investigative journalists to find out. On the possibility of a political rival spreading these rumours, the home minister parried a direct reply, saying, "I have nothing to say on this". But Rajnath said he did not complain about it to the RSS.

"I have not talked to the Sangh on this," Rajnath claimed.

He also accused a section of the media of targeting ministers of its government for some time now by propagating unfounded and baseless reports, and asked them to desist from indulging in such propaganda. The BJP president said such attempts to take away the focus of the Narendra Modi government on development from the eyes of the public will not succeed.

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Observers point out that while no BJP leader elaborated on what the charges are against Singh's son, it is clear from the responses from the party's top rung that things are not really hunky dory.

Congress wants clarification on rumours about Pankaj

The Congress on Wednesday targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh asking them to clarify the exact nature of 'rumours' floating about Singh's son and the persons spreading them.

"The country and the Congress party wants to know... you (Singh and Modi) should first of all clarify what are the allegations that you are denying," Congress communication department chief Ajay Maken said shortly after both the PM and the home minister denied reports related to questionable conduct of Singh's son Pankaj.

Referring to the home minister's statement that he would quit politics if the allegations against him or a member of his family were true, the Congress wondered what was going on behind the scenes when it had not levelled any allegations on the BJP leaders.

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"It is strange as the Congress, the main Opposition party has not levelled any allegations against (Rajnath's) son. We would like to know very politely from Rajnath Singhji who levelled these allegations?" said Maken.

Later taking a dig at Singh, a senior Congress leader said the unsavoury episode showed the incompetence of the home minister whose job involved tracking the source of any such rumour mongering.

Congress spokesperson Rajeev Gowda wanted to know the reason behind the quick reactions from the home minister and PM while pointing at the wedge within the government and BJP over the issue.