Arun Jaitley defends Jaswant's expulsion

This is a charge that the former External Affairs Minister has strongly denied.

“Considering the gravity of the situation, the Parliamentary Board of the party has all the powers to summarily expel a member,” party senior leader Arun Jaitley said, defending the action taken without issuing a show-cause notice.

Answering criticism that the party muzzled a senior leader for writing a book and expressing views, Jaitley said the party had no objection ordinarily against any intellectual exercise by a party functionary so far as it did not go against the party’s strong and core beliefs.

“The issue is not your right to author a book but the issue is what you say and what you write. The basic issue that remains is what you say and what you write and the contents of the book. No political party can allow any member, more so a frontline leader, to write and express views against the core ideology of the party,” he said.

Returning to Delhi, Singh challenged the party’s contention that he violated its discipline and ideology and wanted to know which core belief of the party he had disturbed.