Kirti Azad's suspension: Advani, other BJP veterans get into a huddle

New Delhi: BJP veterans L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha, who have been vocal against party leadership, on Thursday went into a huddle over developments in the party in the wake of MP Kirti Azad's suspension after he attacked Arun Jaitley over DDCA issue.

Azad has sought intervention of the 'margdarshak mandal', comprising Advani, Joshi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh, which was formed by BJP president Amit Shah after he took over the party reins.

Sources said Advani drove down to Joshi's residence and Shanta Kumar and Sinha joined them at noon for a meeting that lasted about an hour. The four leaders, who had virtually revolted against the Modi-Shah team after BJP's drubbing in Bihar Assembly election last month, are learnt to have discussed the situation arising out of Azad's suspension.

They had made a strong public statement after the Bihar poll debacle, saying the party has been "emasculated" in the last one year and was being "forced to kow-tow to a handful".

Cracking the whip yesterday, BJP suspended Azad, who has been leading a campaign against Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on alleged corruption in DDCA, charging him with anti-party activities and accusing him of "colluding" with Congress and AAP to bring it into "disrepute".

The action of the BJP Parliamentary Board to suspend him from the party's primary membership with immediate effect came three days after his press conference attacking Jaitley and subsequent acts of defiance both inside and outside Parliament.