Janjivan Bureau / New Delhi: As pressure mounts on Prime Minister Narendra Modi to remove Union Minister of State for External Affairs MJ Akbar from the council of ministers, the ruling BJP appears in a catch-22 situation.
Modi is in a quandary as the issue can be detrimental to the image of the government.
BJP leaders agree it is no longer tenable for Akbar to continue, rather it would be “grave if the situation is ignored in the hope that it would blow away”.
However, action against him will also be the admission that the PM took a “wrong decision while including Akbar in his council of ministers”.
For the BJP, holding on to Akbar may come at a cost–a dent in its image in the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.
As the BJP and its managers weigh their options, all eyes are now on Akbar. He must be following the events back home and BJP managers would have cautioned him on his next move.
The Ministry of External Affairs says he is coming back on Friday but sources say it could be Thursday.
