“I was not in agreement with the decision to expel Jaswant Singh,” he said here but refused to be drawn further into the controversy. The BJP parliamentary board on August 19 in Shimla decided to expel Jaswant Singh soon after the release of his controversial book on the founder of Pakistan M A Jinnahin which he allegedly held Sardar Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru responsible for the partition of India. The BJP-ruled Gujarat government had banned the book.
Subsequent to his expulsion, Jaswant Singh had charged BJP leader L K Advani with not defending him in the Board meeting and attacked him on the Kandahar episode saying Advani was privy to the decision to free terrorists in exchange of hostages. Advani had skirted the controversy by not reacting to the spate of charges levelled by his erstwhile colleague in the party.
Published 21 September 2009, 15:44 IST