The Hindu : BJP rebels face the axe

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 12, 2002

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BJP rebels face the axe

By Neena Vyas

NEW DELHI NOV. 11. Ten legislators of the Bharatiya Janata Party in Uttar Pradesh could lose their membership of the State Assembly through disqualification proceedings. The party's central leadership has given a green signal to its State unit to proceed with the action without further delay.

The BJP national president, Venkaiah Naidu, indicated here that in Lucknow, the State unit chief, Vinay Katiyar, had begun doing the necessary paperwork, and would meet the Speaker of the Assembly, Kesri Nath Tripathi, tonight for issuing the necessary orders.

"They have crossed all limits,'' Mr. Naidu said here today. On Sunday, the party made up its mind after Mr. Naidu had long meetings with the Prime Minister, Atal Behari Vajpayee, the Deputy Prime Minister, L. K. Advani, the former party president, Kushabhau Thakre, and the `prabhari' of Uttar Pradesh, Kalraj Mishra.

The BJP general secretary and former Chief Minister, Rajnath Singh, was also kept in the picture. It was suggested by senior leaders that it was "too late now'' for the party to accept even an unconditional apology from the 10 who had defied the party directive by signing the nomination forms of the arms dealer, Suresh Nanda, as a candidate for the Rajya Sabha elections — Mr. Nanda's papers were rejected earlier today during scrutiny by the Returning Officer and almost all the major parties in Uttar Pradesh heaved a sigh of relief.

It seems that a "lesser sentence'' may be meted out to the other MLAs — some had made public statements against the party, its leaders and the Mayawati Government, some had met the Governor and later stated that they were withdrawing support to the Government, others had met the Samajwadi Party leader, Amar Singh, and given the impression that they were ready to support an alternative government headed by Mulayam Singh Yadav.

It appeared that the BJP would be carefully looking at the arithmetic in the U.P. Assembly before deciding what kind of disciplinary action is to be taken, and against how many of its legislators.

Mr. Naidu said that even after the strongest action against the 10 legislators (the hint was disqualification), the Mayawati Government would be "stable'' and would continue to enjoy a slightly reduced majority. Others may be given a chance to offer a public apology or "warned'' to behave.

Mr. Naidu said that the U.P. imbroglio should also serve as a warning to others that the BJP would not tolerate indiscipline. The BJP has relied on the Maharashtra example where the Speaker disqualified a few MLAs of the Congress and of the Nationalist Congress Party after they met the Governor to withdraw support to their own Government.

Although these disqualifications were upheld by the High Court, the final word has yet to come from the Supreme Court where the case is pending.

Nanda to challenge EC order

PTI reports from Lucknow:

The BJP dissidents' nominee and arms dealer, Suresh Nanda, today said he was going to challenge the Election Commission's order rejecting his nominations for the Rajya Sabha elections in Uttar Pradesh.

``My entry was obviously inconvenient to others and I am not going to take it lying down. I am going to fight and going to appeal to the highest courts,'' he told reporters.

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