Hyderabad, June 01: Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj dismissed reports about her differences with senior BJP leader Arun Jaitley as “media creation” and said she enjoyed good relations with Mr. Jaitley.
During a brief stop-over here en route to Karimnagar on Tuesday, Ms. Swaraj said the controversy over the inclusion of the Reddy brothers, Gali Janardhana Reddy and G. Karunakara Reddy, in the Karnataka Cabinet was a closed chapter. Senior BJP leaders, including the former president Rajnath Singh and Karnataka Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, had clarified and there was nothing more to talk about.
Asked about the debate on bringing the Prime Minister under the purview of the Lokpal, Ms. Swaraj said she would comment on the issue after studying the draft. The former Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, favoured bringing the Prime Minister’s office under the Lok Pal’s ambit and “Atalji said this before demitting office.”
On Telangana issue
On the Telangana issue, she said the BJP would continue to mount pressure on the UPA government to introduce the Bill during the monsoon session of Parliament. Her party would extend full support to the Bill.
She maintained that the BJP enjoyed credibility on separate Statehood issue since it had the track record of fulfilling its assurance in the creation of Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand and Uttarakhand after being voted to power at the Centre.
“We will also carve out separate Telangana when we come back to power after 2014 elections,” she said.
—Agencies