BHOPAL: Four ruling Bharatiya Janata Party MLAs, all known supporters of former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister and expelled BJP leader Uma Bharti, were suspended from the party on Saturday.

The four -- Sunil Nayak, Jalam Singh Patel, Rasal Singh and Hakam Singh Chadhar -- have been suspended under various sub-clauses of section 25 of the party Constitution. They had backed Ms. Bharti and supported her campaign for leadership change that eventually led to Shivraj Singh Chauhan replacing Babulal Gaur as Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh.

The suspended MLAs -- Mr. Nayak (Jatara in Tikamgarh district), Mr. Patel (Narsinghpur), Mr. Chadhar (Gotegaon in Narsinghpur district) and Mr. Singh (Ron in Bhind district) -- have been given 10 days to explain why disciplinary action should not be taken against them.

Following a violent protest outside the State BJP office on November 28 last year and Ms. Bharti's walk-out from the Bharatiya Janata Party legislature party meeting in which Mr. Chauhan was elected, many of her supporters were expelled from the party on disciplinary grounds.

Besides Ms. Bharti, prominent among those expelled was the former Union Minister Prahlad Singh Patel who has been in the forefront rallying support for Ms. Bharti.

On being contacted, a BJP spokesman said that recently when Mr. Patel was sitting on a hunger strike in the State capital protesting against the working of the State Government, the four BJP MLAs who have now been suspended were seen by his side. These MLAs also did not explain their conduct in response to a notice earlier served on them, he said.

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