Jammu: BJP leader Ram Madhav, who has kicked up a row by attacking Vice President Hamid Ansari over yoga, on Monday said he wanted the controversy to end.
“See I want Yoga event to be remembered. Millions and millions of people participated in it. I do not want any further controversy. The matter closes here,” the BJP General Secretary and RSS nominee in the party told reporters.
Madhav, who was here to chair a BJP meeting and review the situation in Jammu and Kashmir, was replying to questions pertaining to the controversy generated by his tweets questioning Ansari’s non-participation in mass yoga celebrations yesterday.
After his tweets, the Vice President’s office last night came out with a statement saying he was not invited at all.
Asked about Ansari not being invited to Yoga Day, Madhav said he has no knowledge about it.
Union Minister Jitendra Singh, who hails from Jammu, also tried to downplay the controversy and said that Ram Madhav has already cleared his stand and there is no need to discuss it further.
Madhav, had in tweets, questioned Ansari’s absence from the mass yoga but deleted those after the Vice President’s office protested. He then tweeted that Ansari was unwell, which was also contradicted by the Vice President’s office, which said he was not invited at all.
Meanwhile, government apologised for BJP leader Ram Madhav’s criticism of Vice President Hamid Ansari’s absence at the Yoga Day celebrations here over which the Congress accused it of playing “divisive” politics.
Union Minister Shripad Naik cited protocol to say that the Vice President can’t be invited to an event where the Prime Minister is chief guest amid reports that the government is upset with the needless controversy triggered by Madhav’s tweets.
“Unknowingly something happens, we apologise for that. It should have been avoided. It’s a mistake, he(Madhav) agrees, he apologised. He withdrew his statement,” Naik said when asked to comment on Madhav’s controversial tweets yesterday.About the warrant of precedence, Naik said, “When the Prime Minister is chief guest, then inviting the Vice President is not proper. That is protocol. That’s why we did not send the invite to him. President and Vice President are above the Prime Minister as per order of precedence and we cannot invite them accordingly.” (PTI)
