New Delhi/Bangalore, June 3: As Rahul Mahajan lay in his hospital bed after a night of drinking, his late father’s party scrambled to distance itself from the latest controversy that has embroiled the family.

“It is (a) tragedy of the family,” BJP spokesperson Sushma Swaraj said.

“The party has nothing to do with it. It can happen in any family,” Sushma added.

She was talking to reporters after a meeting at senior leader Lal Krishna Advani’s residence which discussed among other issues the office-of-profit bill that President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam returned to Parliament earlier this week.

Sushma claimed the meeting did not discuss the Rahul case that has once again turned the spotlight on the family of Pramod Mahajan, who died recently after being shot by his youngest brother Praveen.

She said just as the party does not celebrate if children of its leaders score high marks in examinations, it has nothing to do with their personal lives, too.

Senior BJP leaders, including party president Rajnath Singh, had, however, visited the junior Mahajan at Apollo Hospital yesterday.

Rajnath today said in Bangalore that Rahul had expressed a desire to work for the BJP after his father’s death, but the party was yet to take a decision.

“He (Rahul) had indeed expressed a desire to work in the party after the death of Pramodji. That was under consideration. So far, we have not taken a decision,” he told reporters on the sidelines of a function in the Karnataka capital.

Asked if his party viewed last night’s episode as a conspiracy, he said: “What view can the party have? Inquiry is being conducted by police. I don’t want to talk anything about it.”

Before Rahul’s hospitalisation, several close aides of his father had been seeking a role for him in the party organisation, though some senior leaders had expressed serious reservations on the ground that he was not “cut out” for politics.

On Monday, Rahul had set off a buzz when he walked into the BJP’s national executive meeting during lunch break.

Asked if he planned to take the plunge, Rahul had said “it can be given a thought”.