BJP MPs to raise Afzal issue on day one in Parliament

New Delhi, Nov 3 (UNI) The BJP Parliamentary Party today decided to raise the issue of the UPA Government delaying Afzal's death sentence even though the Supreme Court held him guilty in the December 2001 Parliament attack case.

A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of office bearers of the BJP Parlimentary Party at the residence of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. The Government has delberately delayed the hanging of the convict for political reasons keeping the minority votes in mind. This will be resisted, both in and outside the Parliament, and all over the country on November 22, when the Parliament will begin its winter session, BJP Parliamentary Party Spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told newspersons after the meeting.

He said the BJP members had sent about 71 notices to the Parliament Secretariat seeking to raise a number issues including loot of the public by the government by levying higher prices for petroleum products at a time when the prices in the international market had come down. The other issuses that will figure in the meeting included controversy regarding the Special Economic Zones, Indo-US Nuclear deal, Delhi sealing.

He said the BJP had called a meeting of party MPs on November 21 to discuss floor strategy and would discuss the issue with NDA allies too.

The leaders who attended the meeting included BJP president Rajnath Singh, senior MPs Sushma Swaraj and S S Ahluwalia.

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