BJP does not need a certificate by V P Singh : BJP

New Delhi, June 26 (UNI) Taking exception to former Prime Minister V P Singh's insinuations against former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee that he had plans to leave BJP in the late 80s, the BJP today said neither the BJP nor any of its leaders required any ''certificate'' by Mr Singh, as his so called transparent approach smacked of ''double standards.'' Reacting to media reports about the claims in Mr Singh's memoirs titled "Manzil Se Zyada Safar" that Mr Vajpayee was on the verge of deserting the BJP, quoting Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha Mr Jaswant Singh, party Spokesman Ravi Shankar Prasad said he had talked to the former external affairs minister, who told him ''such kind of writings can figure in a fiction and not in a memoir''.

Mr Prasad said the BJP had nothing to say on this book because it was an individual's right to express but his comments on the BJP and its leaders were ''simply baseless'' because of his ''selective yardstick'' and approach to the events that stirred the nation.

''His commitment to transparency was indeed doubtful because his articulation on certain aspects and silence on a series of scandals involving Congress, RJD and Communist leadership was indeed mystifying,'' Mr Prasad said.

He made a big fuss on Rs 60 crore kickbacks in Bofors gun purchase scandal and HDW submarine but was silent on War Room Leaks, Scorpene Submarine deal which not only ''involved huge kickbacks but endangered the security of the nation'', Mr Prasad added.

He had never ''opened his mind'' on the Rs 2,000 crore Animal husbandry scam involving RJD Chief Lalu Prasad or even about defreezing of London bank accounts of Bofors kingpin Ottavio Quattrocchi.

''It is better for Mr Singh to bat openly for Congress rather than coming to its defence on the backfoot,'' Mr Prasad remarked.

He said the former Prime Minister had not spared BJP or its leaders on any occasion right from Ayodhya to the reservation issue but never said what he was now revealing through this memoir.

''This selective approach makes his commitment to transparency doubtful. If he was indeed honest, why did he hide all this from the nation all these years?,'' he asked.

About Mr Singh's revelation that late President Giani Zail Singh had told him that he was willing to swear him as Prime Minister but he had declined the offer, Mr Prasad said people would have respected him for what he did if he would have revealed the matter at that time only.

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