Advani was opposed to Jaswant's expulsion

NEW DELHI: BJP leader L K Advani had not supported the move to give Darjeeling MP Jaswant Singh marching orders when the party���s top brass had met in Shimla on August 19 for its ���chintan baithak���.

Asked about his former aide Sudheendra Kulkarni���s views that Advani could not have been in favour of the decision to expel Jaswant Singh, the Leader of Opposition said ���yes��� , confirming he had disagreed with the move to show the former foreign minister the door.

It is understood that Advani found himself a lone voice at the meeting. He had suggested steps like removing the MP from the party���s parliamentary board or national executive as lesser disciplinary action for his book on Muslim League leader Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The message that action has been taken, Advani is said to have argued, would have gone out even if the party stopped short of expelling Singh. But Advani���s suggestion ran into an almost unanimous view in favour of expulsion with Gujarat CM Narendra Modi pointing to the ���negative��� fallout about remarks on Sardar Patel. The mood was set by leaders like Ananth Kumar and Vinay Katiyar who vociferously demanded Singh���s expulsion.

Advani has not reacted to Jaswant Singh���s tirade in which he accused the BJP veteran of having misled the nation over the Kandahar hijack deliberations.