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NEW DELHI: Reeling under internal bickerings and controversy surrounding Jaswant Singh’s expulsion, the BJP on Sunday suffered furtherembarrassment when Sudheendra Kulkarni, who was a close aide of Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L K Advani, decided to quit the party over ‘ideological differences’.
He, however, maintained that his decision had nothing to do with the expulsion of Jaswant Singh over his book “Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence”.
“I decided to end my association with the BJP several weeks back. My decision has nothing to do with the unfortunate incident of Jaswant Singh-ji,” Kulkarni told Times Now.
He said he would continue to be a well-wisher of the party and added: “I have the highest regard for Advani-ji and Atal Bihari Vajpayee-ji, whom I have worked with for 13 years.”
Kulkarni, who began his political activism as a Communist, worked in the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) during Vajpayee’s time and served as his speech writer, media adviser and political aide.
“From now on I will be totally independent. I will work with like-minded members of other parties…,” Kulkarni told the news channel.
BJP vice-president Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi said that his dissociation from the BJP or its leaders is not going to have any effect on the party. “Kulkarni is not a member of BJP or an office-bearer of the party,” he said.
After BJP’s debacle in the Lok Sabha polls, Kulkarni had been critical of the party’s election campaign strategy and management as also Varun Gandhi’s hate speech. He had incurred the wrath of the RSS when he wrote about Sangh Parivar “interference” in BJP’s functioning.