Date:12/09/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/09/12/stories/2005091218500100.htm

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Khurana gets expulsion order

Neena Vyas

No rift with Advani; we have worked together for 50 years, says Vajpayee

"It is unfortunate", says expelled BJP leader, Madan Lal Khurana

NEW DELHI: There was no immediate end in sight to the Bharatiya Janata Party's ongoing crisis, ostensibly related to the expulsion of party leader Madan Lal Khurana, who received the orders on Saturday night.

With the former Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, away in Lucknow and party president L.K. Advani having gone to Indore, there was no further movement or effort to defuse the crisis that started with a statement from Mr. Vajpayee disapproving of the expulsion and saying that Mr. Khurana should have been given one more chance. However, speaking in Lucknow on Sunday evening, Mr. Vajpayee rubbished media reports of differences between him and Mr. Advani saying, "We have worked together for 50 years and will continue to work together." But there was no word on the Khurana affair.

A meeting of party general secretaries is scheduled for Monday and decisions are expected to be taken on the Chennai national executive committee meeting slated to start on September 16. Many leaders said that in the circumstances — with Mr. Vajpayee and Mr. Advani having publicly disagreed on a serious organisational matter — it would be difficult to hold the meeting unless the issue was sorted out in the next couple of days.

Mr. Khurana on Sunday called on Mr. Vajpayee in Delhi as did general secretary Pramod Mahajan. Mr. Khurana told reporters later that he received the party's letter expelling him on Saturday night.. Mr. Khurana wondered why the letter had not been withheld to allow the matter to be sorted outin view of Mr. Vajpayee's plea that he be given a chance to explain his position.

He blamed a "section of the BJP" for "conspiring" against him and for creating divisions within the party. He pointed out that the expulsion letter was dated September 8 but was delivered to him only on September 10. Why could it not have been withheld for a few more days, he asked. Privately, party leaders admitted that there was more to the crisis than the Khurana affair. The crisis was indirectly related to the expected countdown to Mr. Advani's exit as party president.