Khurana Wants To Forget Past

Madan Lal Khurana, Delhis generally pugn acious and recently truculent BJP leader, is back to party work after assurances from former prime minister AB Vajpayee and party president LK Advani that he will lead the state party unit in the next elections, although Sahib Singh Verma would continue as Delhi chief minister.

He told reporters yesterday he wanted to forget the unfortunate misunderstanding that led him to resign as party vice-president last month. Khurana had asked to be reinstated as chief minister after the high court cleared him of corruption charges in the high profile hawala case. Khurana said: I have decided to forget the past and now I am again going to work as per the directives of the party high command.

 

Khurana had understood at a meeting with senior leaders on August 2 that his nominee would replace Verma, who has become a strong centre of power after replacing Khurana at the time the hawala charges were filed in early 1996. He resigned talking bitterly of humiliation and betrayal.

Avoiding a barrage of questions from reporters, amazed at his tame climbdown, Khurana yesterday said he was fully satisfied after the high command explained that the third alternative had only been an option they had discussed and that it was given up owing to certain circumstances. He wouldnt say what these were.

His focus now was on not allowing 54 years of hard work for the party to be besmirched, he said. He was willing to pay the price of discipline and political loyalty, even if it meant humiliation.