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BJP suspends senior Delhi leader Balli

Staff Reporter

"Grave acts of indiscipline"

NEW DELHI: Senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former Delhi Industries Minister Harsharan Singh Balli was on Wednesday suspended from the party for his anti-party activities. He has been charged with discrediting the party by taking arbitrary decisions and continuously disregarding the directions of the party for selfish interests. Delhi BJP president Harsh Vardhan issued the suspension order at the direction of the party leadership.

In a statement here, Dr. Harsh Vardhan said Mr. Balli, sitting MLA from Hari Nagar, had been suspended from the party with immediate effect. He said Mr. Balli had been indulging in grave acts of indiscipline by disobeying the decisions of the party and its leaders including those of the BJP Legislature Party. "He had discredited the party with his anti-party activities during his interviews to the print media and television channels. He had made utterances against senior party leaders leaving the party with no other alternative but to take strong disciplinary action against him. This is the reason Mr. Balli had been suspended from the party," the statement added.

Mr. Balli had accused both Dr. Vardhan and Leader of the Opposition in Delhi Assembly Jagdish Mukhi of being hand in glove with Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit and acting as the ``loyal opposition'' that had led to the present state of the party.

Mr. Balli, who had gone on a "fast unto death" last month, had accused senior party leaders and those in Delhi of ignoring the interests of lakhs of people of Delhi and had dared the party leadership to take action against him. What further aggravated the situation was the visit by the expelled BJP leader Uma Bharti during Mr. Balli's fast and the participation of Mr. Balli in Tuesday's rally at the Ramlila grounds. Mr. Balli had also urged the senior BJP leader L.K. Advani that instead of taking out a rath yatra in various parts of the country, he should first take out a yatra in Delhi where lakhs of people were being uprooted and their livelihood threatened. However, the party did not take all this lightly and decided to move against Mr. Balli, known as a loyalist of former Chief Minister Madan Lal Khurana.

Meanwhile, after having attended Ms. Bharti's rally in the Capital, Mr. Khurana is still undecided about his next plan of action. Although Mr. Khurana had announced the formation of Delhi Bachao Manch, there is no clarity as to what shape this forum will take place. It is understood that Mr. Khurana is also in close touch with leaders like Nationalist Congress Party MLA Ramvir Singh Bidhuri and Delhi Janata Dal (S) president Shoaib Iqbal on the formation of a Third Front in the Capital.

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