BJP veterans LK Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha, who have been vocal against the party leadership went into a huddle on Thursday, over developments in the party, in the wake of MP Kirti Azad’s suspension after he attacked Arun Jaitley over the DDCA issue.
Azad has sought intervention of the ‘margdarshak mandal’, comprising Advani, Joshi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, which was formed by BJP president Amit Shah after he took over the party reins.
Sources said Advani drove down to Joshi’s residence and Shanta Kumar and Sinha joined them at noon for a meeting that lasted about an hour.
The four leaders, who had virtually revolted against the Modi-Shah team after BJP’s drubbing in Bihar Assembly election last month, are learnt to have discussed the situation arising out of Azad’s suspension.
They had made a strong public statement after the Bihar poll debacle, saying the party has been “emasculated” in the last one year and was being “forced to kowtow to a handful”.
Meanwhile ANI, quoting sources, said that the margarshak mandal concluded that Azad’s suspension sends a message that the voice of whistleblowers was being suppresed in the BJP. The veterans also said that Azad’s suspension could do harm to the party, ANI said.
BJP suspended Azad, who has been leading a campaign against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on alleged corruption in DDCA, on Wednesday, charging him with anti-party activities and accusing him of “colluding” with Congress and AAP to bring “disrepute” to the party.
(With agency inputs)
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