Thaindian News

Allahabad/New Delhi, Feb 8 (IANS) Tripped by Karnataka’s porngate in the midst of Uttar Pradesh elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) went on the defensive Wednesday.

While BJP president Nitin Gadkari called the incident “unfortunte”, party leader Arun Jaitley said there was a sense of regret after three ministers in Karnataka’s BJP government viewed porn in the assembly.

The ministers — Laxman Savadi, C.C. Patil and J. Krishna Palemar — resigned Wednesday, one day after two of them were caught watching porn on the third man’s phone.

All three claimed they have done no wrong and that a probe would prove their innocence.

“It is unfortunate,” Gadkari said in Allahabad.

But he sought to underline the act of the ministers with the larger slide in values in the society.

“There is deterioration in every sector, whether it is the media or administration or society. It is a matter of concern,” Gadkari said.

Jaitley said in Shahjahanpur in Uttar Pradesh: “We have a deep sense of regret that any of our members should be involved.”

But he too sought to show that the BJP was more sensitive to such allegations unlike the Congress, referring in particular to Hyderabad and Rajasthan.

The reference was to former Andhra Pradesh governor N.D. Tiwari caught on camera allegedly having sex with unknown women and sacked Rajasthan minister Mahipal Maderna allegedly featuring on a sleaze CD with a nurse who was subsequently kidnapped and killed.

Gadkari underlined that the BJP had told the ministers to step down. But the ministers claimed they had resigned on their own.

Both Gadkari and Jaitley were in Uttar Pradesh to campaign for BJP candidates in the staggered assembly elections that started Wednesday and end March 3.

In New Delhi, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman slammed the Congress for trying to play the moral police.

“The ministers have submitted their resignation,” she said. “No one should act as moral police. We all are responsible for what is happening in the society.”

The Congress took a dig at the BJP.

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal said: “There are all kinds of entertainment, sometime political entertainment and sometime other kinds of entertainment. I would not like to use harsh words against them.”