Arun Shourie committed gross indiscipline, says Ram Naik

NEW DELHI: The BJP leadership may not have still decided what to do with Mr Arun Shourie, but senior party leader Ram Naik has said Mr Shourie���s comments against BJP and its leadership were an act of gross indiscipline.

���What Shourie has done is gross indiscipline,��� Naik, who heads BJP���s disciplinary panel, according to an agency report from Mumbai. When he was asked what action would be taken against Mr Shourie, the former Union minister said, ���it is for the party���s parliamentary board to decide.���

Mr Naik, however, declined to comment on expelled BJP leader Jaswant Singh, saying ���it is a closed chapter.���
Mr Shourie, the 68-year-old journalist-turned-politician, had hit out at BJP president Rajnath Singh calling him an ���Alice in Blunderland��� and the party as a ���kati patang���.

In another development indicating the state of affairs in BJP, its Azamgarh MP, Mr Ramakant Yadav, wanted in a murder case, was arrested on Tuesday.

Azamgarh additional superintendent of police Sarvesh Kumar told an news agency that he would only confirm Mr Yadav has been arrested and other details would be divulged later.

A murder case was filed against Mr Yadav August 12 after a young man died in a clash between the supporters of the Ulema Council and the BJP in Phoolpur area of Azamgarh district.

The parliamentarian was absconding since the killing took place. ���We had organised a rally in the Phoolpur area and were heading towards the venue in cars. Those accompanying Mr Yadav, who was in his cavalcade behind us, had a brawl with some of our supporters and members, who were walking down,��� convenor of the Ulema Council Maulana Amir Rashadi said.

���Yadav���s supporters started firing indiscriminately at us, resulting in the death of a 21-year-old Abdul Rehman,��� he claimed.

A case under Sections 302 (murder) and 307 (attempt to murder) was registered against the MP and others in the Phoolpur police station, police said.

However, there were contradictions over the place from where Mr Yadav was arrested. Some officials said he was nabbed from Azamgarh district, while others said the parliamentarian was arrested from Ghaziabad. Azamgarh is about 300 km from Lucknow.