Suspended Rajya Sabha member Ram Jethmalani ‘gate crashed’ into a party meeting here on Tuesday and blasted top BJP leaders of the party for being “too mild” on the Congress over corruption issues.
Jethmalani also questioned BJP’s ‘indecisiveness’ over revocation of his suspension. “Either throw me out of the party or take back the show-cause notice,” Jethmalani said in his five-minute speech at BJP’s Parliamentary party meeting here on Tuesday. Suspended from the party, Jethmalani is not allowed to attend the meeting.
Jethmalani was suspended in November last after he challenged the party’s decision to oppose appointment of Ranjit Sinha as new CBI chief. BJP’s leadership later decided to revoke his suspension and make a formal announcement.
The lawyer-politician alleged Opposition’s attack on Congress lacks sharpness and taunted BJP leadership for not slamming the Government as vociferously and strongly as it should have done. He alleged that BJP is in a state of flux and not active enough in targeting the ruling party.
Once Jethmalani left the meeting after making his speech; leaders like Ravi Shankar Prasad, Ananth Kumar and Syed Shahnawaz Hussain expressed
their anguish over the manner in which the noted lawyer conducted himself in a party meeting.
Soon after the BJP Parliamentary party meeting, senior leaders who are members of the party’s Parliamentary Board, its top decision-making body, met at Advani’s office in Parliament House and discussed the issue. Among those who attended the meeting included Rajnath Singh, Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. Jethmalani has also written to the party president seeking an early decision on his suspension after a notice was served on him.
“He has expressed his views before the party and we have taken note of it,” Hussain said. BJP sources claimed Jethmalani’s issue is likely to be discussed in the party’s Parliamentary Board meeting on Wednesday. Only this body of the party is authorised to initiate or withdraw disciplinary actions against a Member of Parliament.
“Option before the party is to expel him. But that would make him a ‘free man’, as in that case he would not be bound by the party whip. But he seems to have crossed limits this time,” a senior BJP leader said.