Atal’s defence: The young make mistakes

NEW DELHI: Former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee took an indulgent view on Sunday of Rahul Mahajan’s predicament, saying “such mistakes happen at a young age”. Vajpayee, who is holidaying in Manali, told reporters, “Such mistakes are possible when you fall in bad company and that is what happened to Rahul.”

Asked whether the episode had tarnished the image of the BJP, which was planning to give Rahul some responsibility, Vajpayee replied in the negative.

With Apollo hospital confirming the presence of drugs in Mahajan’s body on Sunday and police filing an FIR, his family made another attempt at defence.

Sudhansu Mittal, a close friend of the late Pramod Mahajan, gave a standard reply to all queries from reporters: “Let the investigations be completed. Do not be unjust to a family that is in a state of mourning after first tragedy. Please stop the trial by media and character assassination. Would we have on our own (sic) given two pouches that contained white power substance to the doctor, which was handed over to the police, if there was a cover-up on our part?”