BJP, BJD,TDP expel errant MPs
Cracking the whip, the BJP today summarily expelled eight of its MPs who cross-voted or abstained during the trust vote.
Biju Janata Dal(BJD), a constituent in BJP-led NDA, expelled Harihar Swain dubbing him as a "betrayer" while Telugu Desam Party(TDP) MP M Jagannatham also faced similar action for defying party whip.
MDMK sources said in Chennai that the party will be seeking the disqualification of two of its MPS--L Ganesan and Gingee Ramachandran--for voting for the government.
Stung by his fellow MPs switching loyalties, BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani said it sparked so much outrage in the party that it did not take more than five minutes to proceed against the MPs.
The eight members were among 24 opposition MPs who either voted for the government or abstained or remained absent.
"If there was no cross-voting, Government would have lost the trust vote," Advani told reporters a day after the Congress-led UPA government sailed through the confidence vote.
Wasting no time, Advani said that action was also being taken to seek the disqualification of the eight MPs from the Lok Sabha for violation of party whip.
The MPs expelled are Brijbhushan Sharan Singh (Balrampur), Manjunath (Dharwad), Chandrabhan Singh (Damoh), H T Sangliana (Bangalore north), Manorama Madhwaraj(Udipi), Haribhav Madhav (Jalgaon), Babubhai Katara(Dohad) and SomabhaiPatel (Surendranagar). The names of eight MPs half of whom who abstained were announced by BJP president Rajnath Singh at a news conference.(
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