BJP asks Kirti to explain why he should not be expelled from party

The Bharatiya Janata Party on Thursday slapped a show-cause notice on its suspended member of Parliament Kirti Azad, asking him to explain within 10 days why he should not be expelled from the party for 'indiscipline' and 'anti-party' activities.

BJP sources said the notice is a standard follow-up to suspension of a party leader and a decision on expulsion of Azad, who has continued to attack Finance Minister Arun Jaitley over the Delhi cricket body affairs, will depend on his reply.

Sources close to the three-time Darbhanga (Bihar) MP said he was 'ready' with his reply and will send it to the party headquarters on Friday.

Party leader Subramanian Swamy, who had earlier questioned his suspension, has 'vetted' his reply, they said.

An undeterred Azad has continued to target Jaitley over the alleged corruption in Delhi and District Cricket Association and also attacked party MP and Board of Control for Cricket in India secretary Anurag Thakur besides Rajeev Shukla of Congress over alleged irregularities in cricket administration.

The show cause notice spells out his 'anti-party' activities, including his demand for a Central Bureau of Investigation probe in the Lok Sabha into the DDCA affairs and his continued allegations even though the BJP and the government had refuted similar charges levelled by opposition parties like the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party.

In a letter to party chief Amit Shah soon after he was suspended on Decemebr 23, Azad had claimed that he was a loyal BJP soldier and had not done anything against the party.

He later insisted that he had committed no crime by raising the issue of corruption, which the party had pledged to fight resolutely.

The BJP has accused him of ‘colluding’ with the Congress and the AAP to bring the party and its leaders into ‘disrepute’.

“You have colluded with opposition parties, including the Congress and the AAP, and embarrassed the party and its office bearers. You have both inside and outside Parliament conducted yourself in a manner which clearly amounts to indiscipline and anti-party activities... You have made several statements in the media which constitute anti-party activities and such unfounded allegations were clearly intended to bring the party and its office-bearers into disrepute. Your actions have also resulted in lowering the prestige of party and its office-bearers,” the party had recorded while suspending him on December 23.