The hearing was deferred by the EC following request of BJP which sought time to reply the petitions of other political parties.
NEW DELHI: Intensifying its campaign against BJP, the Congress on Monday sought derecognition of BJP for releasing an anti-Muslim CD in Uttar Pradesh but the Commission deferred the hearing on the issue till Wednesday.
Joining other political parties, including BSP, JanMorcha and CPI-M, which had sought derecognition of BJP, a Congress delegation led by senior leader Ashok Gehlot, demanded a CBI probe and prosecution of those involved in the controversial CD under the Indian Penal Code.
"BJP should be derecongised, CBI inquiry should be instituted against those who released and they should be debarred from contesting elections," party leader and Union Minister Kapil Sibal told reporters after they submitted their representation before the EC.
Observing that this was not for the first time the saffron party was distributing such an objectionable CD, he said the BJP had distributed similar CDs during the National Council Meeting in Lucknow last year and also a CD related to Gujarat, for which the Supreme Court had given a notice.
"Now to wash its hands off, just before the assembly election, it is just an excuse," Sibal said.
The hearing was deferred following request of BJP which sought time to reply the petitions of other political parties.
Former Prime Minister VP Singh, who also appeared before the Commission for the hearing, claimed that those who produced the controversial CD had said that senior BJP leaders Rajnath Singh and Kalyan Singh first saw the CD and approved
before releasing.
"Now to say that they have withdrawn the CD has no meaning as they have already distributed it," Singh said.
BJP leader Ravi Shankar Prasad said the party has already explained to the EC that the CD was 'inadvertently' released without the knowledge of senior leaders and was not part of the campaign material.
Attacking rival parties, he said they were ganging up to get votes in the UP assembly polls which was 'worst form of appeasement' and the BJP condemned it.
The BJP leader said the parties were 'pressurising' the EC on the whole issue.
BSP leader SK Mishra and CPI-M politbureau member S Ramachandran Pillai also appeared before the EC and submitted their respective parties' representations.
Following demands that the BJP be derecognised, the Commission also issued a notice to the party asking why action should not be taken against it under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order of 1968 for releasing the CD that contained rude remarks against Muslims and references to the Babri mosque and Godhra train burning.
The Commission also lodged FIRs against party president Rajnath Singh and senior party leader Lalji Tandon in this connection.
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