Zeenews Bureau
New Delhi: Cracking the whip, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday suspended MP and senior lawyer Ram Jethmalani with immediate effect for daring the party to act against him on the CBI chief's appointment issue, saying it was gross indiscpline.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said Jethmalani had opposed the letter written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by Sushma Swaraj, Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha and Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, asking him to keep the CBI Director's appointment in abeyance.
"Jethmalani's remarks are meant to help the Congress," Hussain said adding that it was an act of "gross indiscipline".
Hussain said Jethmalani opposing the Swaraj-Jaitley letter to PM and his remarks today in Mumbai that no action can be taken against him has been viewed very seriously.
"BJP President Nitin Gadkari has viewed his remarks and today's statement very seriously," and decided to suspend him from the party with immediate effect, he said.
The BJP Parliamentary Board will meet here on Monday at 4.30 PM to take forward the suspension process since Jethmalani is a sitting MP.
In a letter to Nitin Gadkari on Saturday, Jethmalani had criticised the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley for writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the appointment of Ranjit Sinha as the next CBI Chief.
Earlier, Jethmalani had demanded that Gadkari should immediately step down in the wake of charges of dubious funding of his Purti Group.
Jethmalani on Sunday had also challenged the party leadership to take action against him for his stand on the issue.
First Published: Sunday, November 25, 2012, 20:36