The party plans to draw attention to the issue of the removal of a plaque involving Savarkar, the case against Uma Bharti and the matter of the tainted ministers.

Bharatiya Janata Party General Secretary Pramod Mahajan Thursday said the party was planning to launch a nation-wide agitation on the issue of Veer Savarkar, the case against former Madhya Pradesh chief minister Uma Bharti and the matter of tainted ministers.

However, the Maharashtra unit of BJP was likely to be kept away from the agitation as it would be engaged in the campaign for the October 13 assembly elections, the senior leader and Maharashtra party affairs in-charge, told reporters in Mumbai.

Asked whether Bharti would campaign in Maharashtra, he said she would participate, depending on the court's decision. The Hubli court had Wednesday remanded Bharti to 14 days' judicial remand.
"If Bharti is set free by the court, then she will campaign for the party," Mahajan said.

Mahajan said the issue of a plaque quoting Savarkar being removed from the Andamans jail was an emotional one and would feature in election campaign even if the party did not want it to be so featured. Mahajan said the silence on the issue by Union ministers from the state, including Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar, was beyond his understanding. Controversies should not be created on small issues of national leader's past, for political mileage, he said.

"The Congress should not forget that it had put the portrait of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi in Parliament even while the case against him on the Bofors issue was going on in court," Mahajan said.