Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Amit Shah said on Sunday that the party was always ready to give a platform to people doing good work from all walks of life. Questioned whether the BJP would be open to accepting leaders from outside in Tamil Nadu, where the party is trying to find build a base for itself, Mr. Shah said: “Forget Delhi and Tamil Nadu, the BJP is always ready to give platform to people doing good work in all sections of society be it Hema Malini, Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna or Navjot Singh Sidhu. They were not traditionally BJP workers. We gave them space. There are several people with credentials who we have brought into the party such as IAS officer Alphons [Kannamthanam] in Kerala. This is nothing new.”
The BJP president did not attach much significance to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley’s meeting with AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa recently in Chennai. “I have not spoken about this meeting to Arunji, but I don’t think there was anything political there. It was a courtesy call and perhaps the leaders may have discussed GST.”
