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Thursday, Jul 24, 2008
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The day after, BJP expels eight MPs

Neena Vyas

BJP petitions Speaker for disqualification of 8 MPs
A “tainted victory” for Manmohan government

NEW DELHI: The BJP on Wednesday expelled from primary membership eight of its MPs, who had either voted for Tuesday’s trust motion in the Lok Sabha or abstained. The Speaker’s office has also been petitioned for their disqualification as they defied the party whip.

The decision was taken at a meeting held at the residence of the Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, L.K. Advani, here. “It did not take even five minutes for the leadership to conclude that the eight MPs must be expelled forthwith,” BJP president Rajnath Singh said.

The expelled MPs are Brij Bhushan Sharan (Uttar Pradesh), Somabhai Patel (Gujarat), Manjunath Kunnur and H.T. Sangliana (both from Karnataka), who had voted in favour of the government; Manorama Madhavraj (Karnataka), Chander Bhan Singh (Madhya Pradesh), Haribhai Rathore (Maharashtra) and Babubhai Katara (Gujarat), who had abstained.

The BJP would start a countrywide agitation against corruption, with rallies in all State capitals on July 27.

Refers to cartoon

Mr. Advani told journalists that the Manmohan Singh government began its innings in 2004 with the induction of “tainted ministers” and now in its fifth year it won a “tainted victory” in the trust vote. He referred to a cartoon in The Hindu, which played on “nuclear power” and “horse power”.

Referring to the JMM bribery scandal that erupted against the Narasimha Rao government, Mr. Advani said a similar case came to the notice of the public yet again.

“Never before in my nearly four decades-long parliamentary life had I seen the kind of scenes witnessed in Parliament on Tuesday,” Mr. Advani said referring to the display of cash by three of his party MPs, who alleged that the amount of Rs. 1 crore was part of the money used in the effort to bribe them to vote for the government or abstain.

Whenever there was even a whiff of corruption levelled against any party member or MP “the party has never defended it,” he said.

The BJP would “go to the people” with questions on the scandal that erupted in the Lok Sabha. Asked why he as Home Minister had not held any inquiry into the bribery scandal allegedly involving the then BJP president, Bangaru Laxman, Mr. Advani said it was “up to the people” to decide whether the BJP’s campaign against corruption was credible.

Mr. Advani said had it not been for poaching by the Congress on the BJP members and those in other non-UPA parties, “the government would have certainly lost the trust vote.”

He congratulated the “three brave BJP MPs” who had “exposed the shocking attempt to bribe them.”

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