The former deputy PM says they did along with Vajpayee, but Basu's aide denies it
KOLKATA: Two patriarchs belonging to completely opposite political ideologies, CPI(M)'s politburo member and former West Bengal chief minister Jyoti Basu and BJP leader LK Advani, are in the news once again.
There is a controversy over a chapter in Advani's autobiography, My Country, My Life, where he said that Basu had a clandestine meeting with him and Atal Bihari Vajpayee, when the VP Singh-led National Front was in power at the centre. In his autobiography, Advani has also maintained that the communist veteran also insisted that the meeting was under cover since people in CPI(M) might not like it.
Basu was not available for his comments on the issue. However, his political secretary confirmed to DNA that although there was a meeting between Basu, Advani and Vajpayee then, there was nothing secret or clandestine about it.
"The meeting took place at a time when the country was tense due to the proposed Ratha Yatra by Advani. The then Prime Minister VP Singh then requested Basu, as a veteran leader, to hold meetings with Advani and Vajpayee and restrain them from the Ratha Yatra. Basu exactly did that and there was nothing secret or clandestine about the meeting," Basu's political secretary said.
However, he refused to deliberate further on the matter. "Let Basu go through the chapter and after that if he needs to give any reaction to the media, he will surely give that," he said.
However, Advani in his autobiography said that Basu wanted to meet the two BJP leaders because he felt that the National Front government led by VP Singh was not functioning well. According to the autobiography, the meeting took place at Viren Shah's residence in New Delhi.
In his book, Advani described the meeting as an instance of hypocritical outlook and conduct of communists, especially those belonging to CPI(M). According to him, CPI(M) leaders had always been conscious of being politically correct in their dealings with the BJP.
r_sumanta@dnaindia.net
