BJP wants origin sin to tick

NEW DELHI: The BJP has decided on a calibrated strategy on the foreign origin issue - keep it gently simmering, while distancing itself from Sushma Swaraj''s threat to quit the Rajya Sabha, tonsure her head and wear white if Congress Parliamentary Party leader Sonia Gandhi is sworn as PM, Uma Bharati''s fulminations or former party ideologue K N Govindacharya''s threat of a countrywide campaign.
Party president M Venkaiah Naidu on Monday stressed that BJP would not launch any specific agitation on the foreign origin issue but "will fight it out both inside and outside Parliament. We will play the role of a constructive opposition."
He, however, added, "There is no question of boycotting this government."
On Swaraj''s decision to quit the Rajya Sabha, Naidu said the issue was discussed at Monday''s meeting of BJP leaders.
The party, he said, was of the opinion that it was an individual decision and it would not stop her, adding, "We are not going to leave this issue. We are going to keep this alive."
Naidu''s comments came after BJP leaders met here to discuss their role inside and outside Parliament and their stand in the event of Sonia Gandhi taking over as PM.