Set to enter the Rajya Sabha from Gujarat, BJP president Amit Shah on Monday ruled out joining the Modi Cabinet, saying that he would continue to work as national president of the party.
“I will continue to be national president. I am very comfortable where I am. I am not inclined to join the Union Cabinet. Why are you pushing me for thisIJ” Shah said while addressing a Press conference in lucknow.
Denying the BJP’s role in poaching of Congress MlAs in Gujarat, Shah said that Congress should answer why it has kept its legislators confined to a resort in Bengaluru.
“They are now in Karnataka — a State ruled by Congress, at least they should be allowed to roam free there. The Congress is unnecessarily blaming the BJP and the Gujarat Government while the fact remains that it has failed to keep its flock together,” he said.
Shah also clarified that the BJP did not engage in ‘poaching’ in Bihar. “We did not topple the Government there. Nitish Kumar resigned first and then we supported him,” he said.
The BJP president also reiterated that the issue of Ram Temple in Ayodhya was close to the heart of every BJP worker and leader but the party has always said that the matter could be either resolved through talks or by court verdict.
“The poll manifesto of the BJP too speaks about the same thing and we will adhere to it now,” he said.
Referring to rebel SP leader Shivpal Singh Yadav, the BJP chief said that there was no proposal from him or from any quarter of his joining the BJP in near future.
The BJP president also denied involvement of BJP leader in the Panama scam. “A committee set up by the Supreme Court is probing it but no BJP leaders are in the list of offenders in the scam,” he said.
To a query on Bofors scam, Shah said that the probe was already on and he could not comment on it further.
When asked about the proposal by NIA to stop cross-border trade to stop infiltration and supply of illegal arms and ammunition into Kashmir Valley, Shah said that it was up to the security agencies to decide and the party did not have any role in it.