BJP is only 70 percent pure: Yashwant Sinha

New Delhi, Jan 16: With the Kushwaha row giving heartburns to the BJP, senior BJP leader Yashwant Sinha chose to be brutally honest on the episode. After the BJP had to indulge in some firefighting over the induction of tainted Uttar Pradesh leader Babu Singh Kushwaha into the party, Sinha commented that his party was only "70 per cent pure" and said that every party needed to make compromises for "practical wisdom".

Known for his blatant utterance of the truth, Sinha had earlier offered to resign after he alleged that his party was not raising the issue of corruption as aggressively as needed. But he took the opportunity to defend the induction of Kushwaha who is currently being investigated by the CBI in the NRHM scam.

Taking his defence to a whole new level, Sinha stated that the Kushwaha row has not dented the BJP's image and added that the BJP was still different from others "in terms of quality and scale". He said, "Every party in Parliamentary democracy has to do this (compromise). It has not been done for the first time and also certainly not for the last time. Nobody or party can claim to be 100 per cent pure. But, BJP is 70 per cent pure while others are only 20 per cent (pure). So, still BJP is a party with a difference."

The party drew flak from various quarters on the Kushwaha row thinning BJP's image after it formed the government in Jharkhand with the support of the JMM. The fact is that JMM's leader Shibu Soren is also under the massive corruption cloud. On this he said, "No political party runs as a theological or charitable organisation. As per age-old dictum that politics is an art of possible, every party has to combine ideology and practical wisdom."

OneIndia News