BJP suspends 7 J&K MLAs for defying whip by cross voting

NEW DELHI: BJP on Wednesday wielded the disciplinary rod suspending seven of its eleven Jammu and Kashmir MLAs, including a former Union minister, for defying the party whip and cross voting in the legislative council elections last week.

The decision was taken by the party's parliamentary board which met here, a day after all the BJP MLAs of the state met party President Nitin Gadkari.

"Seven MLAs have been suspended from the party forthwith and issued show cause notices as to why they should not be expelled," BJP leader Ananth Kumar told reporters after the meeting of the party's parliamentary board.

Ananth Kumar said the party had taken a "serious view" on the cross voting by the seven legislators- Chaman Lal Gupta, who was a minister in theAtal Bihari Vajpayee government, Jagdish Sapolia, Master Lal Chand, Prof Garu Ram, Baldev Raj Sharma, Durga Das and Bharat Bhushan.