New Delhi: BJP MP Kirti Azad appears to be his way out, with a senior party leader insisting on Thursday that he has no right to embarrass the party while being a member.
The Bharatiya Janata Party parliamentary board is expected to meet on Sunday to discuss the issue of Azad’s possible expulsion for “anti-party activities”.
Ganeshi Lal, president of the BJP disciplinary committee, hinted to IANS that the future in the party may not be very bright for Azad, a three-time BJP MP from Bihar.
“He (Azad) cannot create discomfort and unpleasant situation for the party. It is too much,” Lal said.
Lal said that if Azad wanted to campaign against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the issue of alleged corruption in Delhi’s cricket association, “he must resign first and speak whatever he wants.
“Mere ghar me rehkar mujhe gaali mat do (Don’t abuse me while staying in my house),” said Lal.
The BJP has suspended Azad and asked him to explain why he cannot be expelled from the party for “anti-party activities”.
In his response, Azad has denied doing anything against the BJP and said he had been speaking against corruption in the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA) for years.
Azad has argued that his campaign against corruption in DDCA has nothing to do with the BJP.
Lal said the disciplinary committee had sent its views to the party high command and that it was up to them to take a final call.
“We received his reply on the show cause notice sent by the party. We found him failing in maintaining discipline,” Lal told IANS, giving a peep into the party’s thinking on Azad.
However, Lal refused to say whether the committee had recommended that Azad — son of former Bihar chief minister Bhagwat Jha Azad — should be expelled from the party.
The action against Azad came eight years after he began alleging that financial wrongdoing in the DDCA, which Jaitley headed for 13 years till 2013.
BJP veterans, including L.K. Advani, Yashwant Sinha and Shanta Kumar, are known to be unhappy over Azad’s suspension.
Another prominent BJP leader who has spoken in favour of Azad is actor-turned-politician Shatrughan Sinha.
Azad and Advani were among those who attended the launch on Wednesday of the biography of Sinha.
IANS