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BJP expels Rathore

Special Correspondent

The rebel MLA was arrested last week

JAIPUR: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday expelled its vociferous rebel, Surendra Singh Rathore, MLA from Sriganganagar, for six years on charges of anti-party activities.

The marching orders for Mr. Rathore, who on many occasions in the past defied both the Chief Minister and the party leadership, followed a meeting of the high-profile advisory committee of the State here on Monday evening, attended by both Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and party president Mahesh Sharma.

The axe was expected to fall on Mr. Rathore, who had recently supported the agitation by farmers of the Phase I area of Indira Gandhi Canal Project, after his arrest last Wednesday in a case registered against him way back in 2001. Mr. Rathore's recent hobnobbing with the Rajput Karni Sena, a caste-based organisation, and his tirade against Surendrapal Singh, Minister from Sriganganagar, also seemingly accentuated his exit.

"The State BJP president exercised his powers to expel Mr. Rathore from the party for six years for anti-party activities. A resolution was moved in the presence of the Chief Minister for his expulsion as a member of the BJP legislature party as well at the meeting," said party spokesman Kailash Nath Bhatt.

"The Speaker of the State Assembly has been requested to place Mr. Rathore in the category of unattached members," Mr. Bhatt said.

BJP national vice-president Kailash Meghwal, national secretary Kiran Maheshwari, former State unit presidents Harishankar Bhabhra, Ramdas Agarwal and J.P.Mathur and organising general secretary Prakash Chand were present in the advisory committee meeting. Conspicuous by their absence were former party presidents L.K.Chaturvedi and Raghuveer Singh Kaushal.

"I could anticipate something like this coming though they did not show the slightest pretension of going by the provisions of the party constitution while carrying out my expulsion," Mr. Rathore, speaking on phone from Sriganganagar, said.

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