AMN /
BJP today distanced itself from its MP Varun Gandhi’s views against death penalty. Replying to a media query in New Delhi, senior Party leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said it is Mr. Gandhi’s personal view and not the party’s. He said there is provision of capital punishment for rarest of the rare case and the Supreme Court pronounces verdict on it.
In an article, published in a magazine Mr. Varun Gandhi argued that death sentence only legalises vengeance and ought to be done away with.
Earlier, senior BJP MP Shatrughan Sinha had also opposed the death penalty and signed the mercy plea against Mumbai terror convict Yakub Memon’s execution.
Ravi Shankar Prasad also refused to react to the tweet of Tripura Governor Tathagata Roy that intelligence agencies should keep a tab on people who assembled for Yakub Memon’s last rites saying many of them could be potential terrorists. The Minister said Mr. Roy is no more a member of the BJP as he holds a constitutional post.