Click to play videoNew Delhi: Lawyer-turned-politician Ram Jethmalani has become a major source of headache for the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). However, the BJP is downplaying the embarrassment for the time being.
Ram Jethmalani had surprised many by getting a BJP Rajya Sabha ticket from Rajasthan on June in 2010. However this wasn't the first time that he had left the party red faced.
In 2000, he was forced out of the law minister's post in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government headed by former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after differences with the prime minister.
In 2004, he unsuccessfully contested against Atal Bihari Vajpayee from Lucknow, with the support of the Congress party.
He had advocated that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru's death sentence be commuted to life imprisonment, this in sharp contrast to the BJP line.
So it isn't surprising when the BJP spokesman Prakash Javedkar says, "his views are personal and the party don't subscribe them".
Many feel that despite his volatile and unpredictable behaviour, he is indeed an asset. Jethmalani is at the forefront of the defence of former Gujarat home minister Amit Shah and is known to provide sound legal opinion as and when the BJP requires.
When Nitin Gadkari took over as the president of the BJP, he had harped on the point that indiscipline won't be tolerated. Ten months into his tenure senior party leaders like CP Thakur, Shatrughan Sinha and now Ram Jethmalani have in some part of time or the other have left the party majorly embarrassed. Not even a show cause notice was issued to them.
In this battle between party discipline and political compulsions, it's the latter which has emerged as a clear winner.
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