CD FIR: Rajnath will offer arrest on April 9

New Delhi, Apr 7: BJP President Rajnath Singh will not seek anticipatory bail and offer himself for arrest in connection with an FIR lodged against him in the alleged controversial CD released by the party.

"Since the FIR naming Mr Rajnath Singh, Leader of the Opposition in UP assembly Lalji Tandon, has been registered at the Hazratganj police station at the behest of the Election Commission on April 6 under IPC 153A and 153B, which is non-bailable, it has been decided by the BJP not to seek any anticipatory bail and he will offer himself for arrest on April 9," BJP spokesman Ravishankar Prasad said today.

He said the whole party would stand by the party president and all senior leaders including Leader of the Opposition L K Advani, former BJP President M Venkaiah Naidu, Mr Arun Jaitley, Mrs Sushma Swaraj, Mr Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, Mr Balbir Punj and himself would be present in Lucknow at the time of Mr Singh's arrest.

Mr Prasad said the BJP viewed the filing of two FIRs--first on April 5, in which none was named and the other on April six naming the BJP President and Mr Tandon as unfortunate, malafide and political motivated. Besides the manner in which all parties like the Samajwadi, Congress, BSP and others were seeking action against BJP and its President Rajnath Singh, merely demonstrated the ''height of appeasement.'' The BJP leader cited examples like ''the sugarmill owners rehabilitation package announced by Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar when the Model code of conduct was in force in UP, Lalu's having been caught in distribution of cash to voters during Bihar assembly election'' in which only a warning was issued but no FIR was lodged.

Moreover, it was the first case of its kind that two FIRs were lodged at the same police stations, within a span of 24 hours, even as the party had withdrawn the CD before even the Election Commission had taken cognisance of it.

The State Government also seemed to have colluded in the whole process with political purposes, Mr Prasad said, asserting that the BJP would come out stronger and UP election would show it.

The EC had taken note of the contents of the controversial CD which was being shown on a news channel. The FIR has also mentioned that the EC had procured the CD from the news channel. Mr Tandon said the EC had ignored the principle of natural justice and initiated the action against the BJP without taking into consideration the party's version. ''BJP stands to gain public sympathy as it is innocent in this matter and the order of FIR against the party is too harsh an action for the crime it has never committed,'' he argued.

Uttar Pradesh Chief Electoral Officer(CEO) Anuj Kumar Bishnoi had lodged the FIR in Hazratganj Kotwali yesterday in the state capital under sections 153 A and B, 505 A, B, and C of the IPC and section 123 and 125 the Representation of People's Act. Most of the sections in the FIR are the same except section 123 of the RP Act which relates to spreading communal hatred.

The EC had ordered lodging of FIR after it found the contents of the CD which was 'inadvertently' released at the state BJP party office were communally inflammatory.

Meanwhile, Mr Tandon said the party had received a shot in the arm by its resounding success in the Municipal polls of Delhi. ''The MCD poll results coupled with the recent success in Punjab and Uttarakhand asembly polls has bound to reflect on the results in favour of BJP in the UP assembly polls which got underway this morning,'' Tandon added.

Former deputy Prime Minister and senior BJP leader L K Advani too had expressed similar sentiments against the EC. Hitting out at the EC, he said while no complaint was lodged against Congress in 1984 general elections for its ''communal advertisements'', it lodged an FIR against BJP national president for distribution of CD which was withdrawn before the complaint was made.

As per rules the Election Commission takes action against a party only if the party defies its directive or continues to violate election norms, but no party head is targetted, he noted.

Even at Nandigram in West Bengal, where scores of women and men were raped and brutalised, no FIR was filed. But here an FIR was lodged against an individual who was not involved in any way, he said.

UNI