BJP to raise Pratibha MPLADS issue in Parliament : BJP

New Delhi, July 7 (UNI) The BJP today said even if the UPA-Left Presidential nominee Pratibha Patil was elected the next President, it would not deter the party to raise in Parliament the issue of alleged misuse of funds for MP Local Area Development Scheme by her.

BJP Parliamentary Party spokesman Vijay Kumar Malhotra told newspersons here that it was the right of every MP to raise such an issue and his party would not spare that opportunity. ''Her status as President (if she was elected to the post) will not deter the Opposition from raising the issue,'' he asserted.

A five-member NDA delegation today met Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee to refer the alleged misuse of the MPLAD funds by an educational trust run by the family members of Ms Patil to Ethics Committee or Privileges Committee of Parliament.

''The Speaker has assured us to take a considered view on the contents of our memorandum,'' he said.

''The MPLADS rule is very clear that no money can be released to a trust where an MP or his family members are running the show,'' he said. In this case, money for a sports complex was released by Ms Patil, when she was an MP, in 1995 but the money could not be sanctioned as the land was not owned by the Trust. The Rs 36 lakh fund, as it was reported by the media, was kept in a bank account and it could only have been released by an incumbent MP and not Ms Patil or the District Magistrate, Mr Malhotra maintained.

Asked if the BJP was convinced about the authenticity of the allegation, he said there was no contradiction or denial from anybody on the issue so far and the party believed that the media reports ''had some basis''.

UNI