Bjp To Approach Supreme Court On Gujarat

Former Gujarat Chief Minister Suresh Mehta, who visited Delhi yesterday, briefed legal experts and senior party leaders on facts of the case.

Among those present during Mehta's meeting at the party office were vice president Jana Krishnamurthy, general secretary M Venkaiah Naidu, spokesman Yashwant Sinha and legal expert Arun Jaitley. On Saturday, Naidu and Jaitley had a meeting with former Solicitor General Soli Sorabjee at the latter's residence in this connection.

A source said that Soli Sorabjee was likely to fight the case for the BJP. Naidu and Jaitley have been also trying to draft the services of noted constitutional lawyer KK Venugopal.

 

The petition is likely to be filed on behalf of the 92 BJP MLAs belonging to the Assembly kept in suspended animation since Thursday.

Initially the party had decided to approach the Gujarat High Court under Article 226 of the constitution. Legal opinion, however, thought that it would be better to take the case directly to the Supreme Court under Article 32. Even if the apex court refused to accept the petition it would revert the case to the concerned High Court, a senior BJP leader said.

The irrigation ministers of Karnataka and Tamil Nadu, K N Nage Gowda and Dorai Murugan, also participated in the discussions.