Advani: due respect to President’s office

The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, said here on Tuesday that the Bharatiya Janata Party was “not apologetic” about its campaign in the run-up to the Presidential election, but would show “due respect to the office of the President of India.”

Mr. Advani was addressing the closing session of the party’s two-day national executive committee meet of the Yuva Morcha.

Even as party leaders indicated that they would participate in the new President’s oath-taking ceremony scheduled for Wednesday, Mr. Advani suggested that in some way or the other the BJP would keep its anti-Pratibha Patil campaign alive.

Legal steps likely

Some in the party hinted that petitions would be filed in the Supreme Court — not directly by leaders — pleading for declaring the entire Presidential election null and void on the ground that the Election Commission had failed to ask Presidential candidates to declare their assets and criminal antecedents, if any.

The BJP was arguing that what is mandatory by law for MPs and MLAs should have automatically been applied to Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates.

Once again Mr. Advani raised the issue of “corruption and criminalisation” of the polity and asked the youth to “wage a determined battle against this kind of politics of cynicism.” He charged the United Progressive Alliance Government with “bringing criminalisation into the realm of the Central Government,” referring to the party’s earlier charges that those with criminal records had been inducted as ministers.

Mr. Advani said the UPA had shown “callous disregard towards keeping the office of President away from suspicion on any kind of taint.”

He also objected to the Prime Minister’s remarks soon after Ms. Patil was declared winner, that it was a victory over “divisive forces.” He said it was for the UPA to do some introspection on issues “highlighted by the media.”

Mr. Advani said the UPA candidate had won the Presidential contest “because of the clear majority it enjoyed in the electoral college,” adding, “if the general public had an opportunity to express their preference, they would have certainly rejected the choice of the ruling coalition.”

The remark made by Mr. Advani was interpreted in the Congress as indicating his own preference for the American Presidential system over India’s parliamentary democracy.

Some politicians pointed out that under the Indian Constitution, and unlike in the American system, the President is not the executive head of the Government. His role is more akin to that of the British monarch.

Finally, Mr. Advani said the BJP considered the sanctity of the country’s highest Constitutional office to be more important than the person elected to occupy it and described himself as a “firm believer in the Constitutional order.” Mr. Advani said his party would “continue to show due respect to the office of President of India”.