Is the BJP embarrassed about Maneka Gandhi's letter to Jayalalithaa

The News Minute| September 20, 2014| 03.50 pm ISTBJP National Secretary, Muralidhar Rao made attempts at damage control by saying that the party’s “opposition to the AIADMK governement is in no way diluted in Tamil Nadu” after a surprise move by Minister Maneka Gandhi welcoming Jayalalithaa’s bail release. Union Minister of Women and Child Development and BJP leader, Maneka Gandhi on Sunday had written a letter to Jayalalithaa,” You have my support and sympathy and if there is anything I can do to make this time less onerous, I would be happy to do it.”Emphasizing on the “great deal of suffering” Jayalalithaa has endured in her life, Gandhi wrote “I am sure that this time will be over soon”.“We will see you formally back at the helm of administration again,” she wrote about the former Chief Minister currently disqualified as an MLA after her conviction in an 18-year long disproportionate assets case. Jayalalithaa in her response thanked Gandhi, “Your letter touched me deeply. I was especially moved by the fact that despite your busy schedule as Union Mon you found the time to think of me and send your heart warming message.”Rao’s response comes in the wake of Maneka Gandhi's public reach out in favour of their strongest rivals in Tamil Nadu. Reiterating that her view did not represent the party’s policy, an embarrassed BJP represented by Rao said that “She may be having faith that Jayalalithaa is innocent, she may have expressed her personal faith. BJP always said that in this case that we have to respect judgement”Gandhi’s move which comes across a softening towards Jayalalithaa and an extending of an olive branch to her has come as an embarrassment for the BJP which is trying to find a foothold in the state amidst uncertaintiy over AIADMK’s future due to recent political events. Rao said,” A person in cabinet writing a letter should not be seen as policy of party. Whatever will happen will happen through legal proceedings” Trying to dismiss concerns, he said that if it was the party’s stand, the view would have been declared by the party spokesperson.