Digvijay's brother 'thanks' for expulsion from BJP

Laxman Singh, former Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Parliament and brother of Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh, was expelled from the primary membership of the party on Thursday, days after he publicly criticised its president Nitin Gadkari. "Laxman Singh had been engaging in anti-party activities and had committed acts of indiscipline in the recent past. The BJP has ended his primary membership from the party for these reasons," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

Laxman had recently created a row when he demanded that BJP president Nitin Gadkari should either apologise or step down from his post for his comments against the Congress on the Afzal Guru issue.

Gadkari had asked the Congress at a public meeting last week why it was not hanging the Parliament attack convict and wondered if Afzal was a "son-in-law" of the ruling party. Digivijay had reacted strongly to this statement.

Laxman has been elected to the Lok Sabha twice in the past on a BJP ticket.

Party sources said he might now join the Congress. His expulsion was expected as the party felt he was falling out of line often and this was an indicator that he did not wish to continue in the BJP.

"Leaders who want to quit the party speak in such language," BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar said earlier in the day when asked about the apology demanded by Laxman  from Gadkari.

Digvijay himself has been targeting BJP quite often on issues like "Hindu terrorism". Laxman had also said Gadkari, who took over the top party post in December last, "lacked political experience" and had been making "irresponsible" statements.

Reacting to his expulsion, Laxman merely said "thanks".

Earlier in the day before the expulsion was announced, a defiant Laxman had said, "I have said what I wanted to say and it is now for the party to decide what action it wants to take against me."