DDCA controversy: The enemy within the BJP gets bigger for Arun Jaitley

It is said of Arun Jaitley that he has more friends across parties than any of his peers; it now seems he has more enemies within his own party than outside it. The relentless attack on him from within over the ongoing Delhi District Cricket Association (DDCA) affair proves that the list of his opponents or enemies may be bigger than anticipated.

Jaitley may have handled Arvind Kejriwal well by filing a civil and criminal defamation suit against him and four others, but he would be wary of the problems emanating from within the BJP, as also from those who once were friends with the BJP and Narendra Modi.

The latest salvo against the union finance minister has been fired by KPS Gill. The former supercop has sent a complaint to the Delhi chief minister Kejriwal, alleging that Jaitley got his daughter Sonali Jaitley as the counsel of Hockey India when he was member of the advisory body and he had facilitated huge amounts as her fee.

Gill had for long been held in high esteem by the BJP dispensation – both during and after the Atal Bihari Vajpayee era. After the 2002 post-Godhra violence, he was appointed as a security adviser in Gujarat. The then chief minister Narendra Modi had nice things to say on Gill’s appointment. Later the BJP-ruled Chhattisgarh appointed him as a security adviser to help control the Naxalites in 2006. Though it’s not known when Gill had a falling out with Jaitley, it could relate to the period when Gill was in conflict with Indian Hockey Federation of India, from where he was subsequently suspended. Gill’s complaint would come  in handy for Kejriwal and the AAP in targeting Jaitley.

Another man who is swearing to put Jaitley in a tight spot is Ram Jethmalani, somebody who had been a minister in the Vajpayee government (later removed when he came in conflict with then Chief Justice of India AS Anand and the Attorney General). Jethmalani is currently elected to the Rajya Sabha on a BJP ticket from Rajasthan. He blames Jaitley and the coterie around him for getting him expelled from the BJP in 2012. Sources said Jethmalani had secured a BJP ticket from Rajasthan as a bargain with the party leadership for contesting Amit Shah’s case in Sohrabuddin Sheikh fake encounter case. Since he has been expelled from the BJP, he is now an unattached member in the Upper House.

Jethmalani rooted for Modi in the last parliamentary elections but remained a bitter critic of Jaitley. With the passage of time, he fell out with the Modi regime over what sources say are ‘minor issues’. Since then, he has been very critical of the Modi government, and Jaitey in particular, on the issue of OROP, Bihar elections and so on.

The noted criminal lawyer will defend Kejriwal in the defamation case filed by Jaitley. His cross examinations would be potential headline-makers. Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks at a BJP parliamentary party meeting that Jaitley would come out with flying colours just as LK Advani did in the Jain Hawala case, Jethmalani said “LK Advani had Ram Jethamalani (as his lawyer). Now Arun Jaitley is to be prosecuted by me.”

Sources said besides the revelations made by Kirti Azad, some disgruntled officials, serving and retired, are supplying papers of whatever worth to the ruling AAP dispensation in Delhi. Azad was suspended from the party on Wednesday after he showed no remorse over his action. Kirti had been bitterly taunting Jaitley in his tweets and challenging the minister on the floor of the House in the Lok Sabha.

Another MP from Bihar, Shatrughan Sinha is openly supporting Kirti against Jaitley. In a tweet he said “as for FM, the issue should be fought politically not legally. As advised by our dashing dynamic PM, our FM could follow Advaniji’s example and come clean”. He is clearly insinuating that just as Advani had resigned in the wake of the hawala charges, Jaitley should also resign. In another tweet, Sinha hailed Kirti as a hero, adding, “Humble appeal to friends… Avoid knee jerk reaction/coercive action against friend who is fighting against corruption.”

But it is yet another tweet from Shatrughan Sinha which perhaps sums up the current situation for Jaitley and the BJP, “Have often quoted Newtons 3rd law. Feel that untimely action could boomerang. Sadly, party with a difference has become party with differences.”