Asked why BJP has welcomed back former chief minister B S Yeddyurappa in Karnataka, Smriti Irani said, "it was our party which had directed Yeddyurappa to resign from chief ministership, when charges were levelled against him. We lost the elections because of this. Now Yeddyurappa has been acquitted by the court and he has been taken back in the party."
Smriti Irani was asked by Rajat Sharma why she had criticised Modi for the 2002 Gujarat riots, by giving a statement in Surat on December 12, 2004 that Modi's continuance as CM after the Gujarat riots was shameful, a statement which she retracted the same day in Mumbai by issuing an unconditional apology.
