 "BJP member Kirti Azad at Parliament during the winter session in New Delhi")
Lok Sabha member and former cricketer Kirti Azad was on Wednesday evening suspended for an indefinite period by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) chief Amit Shah for his continued “indiscipline” and “anti-party activities”. Party sources said it was likely that Azad, who remained unrepentant, would be expelled from the party in the weeks to come.
The party chief suspended Azad for an indefinite period after the BJP Parliamentary Board, its highest decision-making body, took a serious view of Azad having “colluded” with the Congress and Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) to damage the prestige of the party by his public statements and for having publicly targeted its office-bearer Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, both inside and outside Parliament, with allegations of irregularities in Delhi's cricket body, the Delhi and District Cricket Association (DDCA).
In his defence, Azad said he “didn’t say anything against anyone personally". In his first reaction, Azad seemed to suggest that he might already be out of the BJP. “The one who worked honestly for the party is thrown out. Just watch what happens next, now I will show them,” Azad said. Party sources said further action will depend on Azad’s reply, but it looked more likely that Azad would invite expulsion that will enable him to retain his Lok Sabha seat.
Azad was conveyed the decision of the party through a letter that detailed instances of his indiscipline, and sought his reply for his “anti-party conduct”. The decision came within hours of the end of the winter session, and after the members of the BJP Parliamentary Board consulted among each other.
Party president Shah did away with the customary issuing of show cause notice and giving the party member 10 days to put forth their defence, as it was feared that Azad would use that time to further malign the party. Article 15 of the BJP Constitution empowers its national president to “suspend any member and then start disciplinary proceedings against him”. Among other acts, "breach of discipline" in the constitution includes “acting in a way calculated to lower the prestige of the party or carrying propaganda against any party unit or its office-bearers.”
Azad had defied the party chief and went ahead with a press conference on Sunday to allege financial irregularities in the functioning of the DDCA during the time Jaitley was its president from 1999 to 2013. He had then also raised the issue in the Lok Sabha on Monday, which BJP members had alleged was at the instigation of Congress President Sonia Gandhi. The party also considered that Azad, despite warnings, didn’t refute the attacks on Jaitley from the Congress or AAP.
Gill’s salvo on Jaitley
Earlier in the day, banned Indian Hockey Federation chief K P S Gill urged Kejriwal in a letter to investigate the finance minister’s conflict of interest in Hockey India. Hockey India President Narinder Batra said Gill’s charges were baseless.
Azad was backed by fellow MP Shatrughan Sinha. The MP from Bihar asked Jaitley to “come clean” as “advised” by the PM and followed the example of L K Advani. Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal tweeted: “Azad’s fault was that he raised his voice against corruption. Today, BJP stands totally exposed.”
The BJP is neck-deep in corruption. There is no democracy in the BJP. Honest voices are muzzled to protect corruption." Congress leader Digvijaya Singh also tweeted: “Is this going to be the fate of all those in the BJP who raise issue of corruption? First Ram Jethmalani and now Kirti.”
Meanwhile, the Delhi government on Wednesday notified the commission of inquiry, headed by former Solicitor General Gopal Subramanium, to probe the alleged corruption in DDCA from 1992 to 2015. The commission has been asked to submit its report within three months.
