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NEW DELHI: The Janata Dal (Secular) national executive on Monday revoked the suspension of Karnataka Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy and 39 other MLAs from primary membership.

They were suspended earlier this year for forming a coalition Government with the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Party secretary-general and spokesperson Kumwar Danish Ali said the apex body took the decision on the recommendations of the disciplinary action committee and in the light of the reply they furnished to a show cause notice.

The meeting suspended national executive member and veteran socialist Surendra Mohan, who was elected president by party rebels at a meeting in Thiruvananthapuram on Friday.

The executive not only accepted the explanation given by Mr. Kumaraswamy and other MLAs — that they were forced to withdraw support to the coalition with the Congress and work with the BJP in order to protect and preserve the identity of the party — but also eulogised them.

A resolution said: "The national executive wishes to place on record its deep appreciation of the vigilant and timely action taken by the legislators led by Shri Kumaraswamy to protect the party from the machinations and conspiracies of the Congress aimed at its extermination from the political scenario of the State and the nation."

The resolution charged that as the resurgence of the JD (S) in Karnataka was anathema to the Congress, it first purposely rejected the party's proposal for a Jammu and Kashmir pattern of power sharing.

It used the former JD (S) leader Siddaramaiah to wreck the party, and he eventually joined the Congress.

The meeting appreciated that Mr. Kumaraswamy and the others had not compromised on the party's basic principle of secularism. "In the face of suspension, [they] chose to abide by the disciplinary mechanism of the party, despite having a clear majority to legally proclaim [themselves] as the real JD (S) at the State level as recognised by the Election Commission''.

The meeting referred the cases of the suspended rebel leaders, Mr. Surendra Mohan, M.P. Veerendra Kumar, P.G.R. Sindhia and others, who attended the Thiruvananthapuram meeting, to the disciplinary action committee.

Mr. Ali said 37 members, including 18 out of the 21 State presidents, attended the national executive meeting. Four others had sent messages saying they would abide by all decisions taken.

Notable absentees were vice-president Bapu Kaldate and socialist Mrinal Gore.

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