BJP show cause to Jethmalani on why he shouldn't be expelled

Moving a step forward on his suspension, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Monday issued a show cause notice to its Rajya Sabha MP Ram Jethmalani asking him to explain why he should not be expelled from the party for "anti-party" activities and indiscipline.

"The parliamentary board confirmed the decision of national president Nitin Gadkari to immediately suspend Ram Jethmalani for his indiscipline and anti-party activities. He has also been issued a notice on why he should not be expelled from the party for six years," BJP general secretary Ananth Kumar told reporters after the meeting.

Kumar, however, said the issue of the statements made

by its Lok Sabha MPs Yashwant Sinha and Shatrughan Sinha against Gadkari and its Leaders of the opposition in the two Houses of Parliament did not come up for discussion in the meeting. The two leaders have also demanded Gadkari's resignation.

Shatrughan Sinha had also supported Jethmalani in demanding the resignation of Gadkari.

Only the parliamentary board, BJP's highest decision-making body, has the authority to expel a party MP or an MLA.

In 2009, senior BJP leader Jaswant Singh had been expelled without being show-caused even though he is a Lok Sabha MP when he wrote a book praising Pakistan founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah and holding Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Patel responsible for the Partition.