Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ideologue and Observer Research Foundation (ORF) chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni is scheduled to travel to Karachi, Pakistan next week to attend the launch of former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book ‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove’.
Earlier this month, Kulkarni made headlines when he was sprayed with black ink by members of the Shiv Sena, for participating in the India launch of Kasuri’s book. The Pakistan book launch, scheduled for November 2, will be attended by prominent persons from both the countries.
Kasuri’s book had received some attention in India after the ink attack, and Kulkarni thanked the former Minister for inviting him to Pakistan. Kulkarni, once a member of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) was a long-time BJP member and a loyalist of party patriarch LK Advani.
He quit the party in 2009, after the BJP’s electoral defeat in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections, as he was unhappy with the influence the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh exerted in the saffron party.
(With inputs from PTI)