BJP suspends Kirti Azad for taking on Jaitley

A terse announcement suspending him came from the party headquarters but a detailed communication from the Board went to him listing his “anti-party” activities in and outside Parliament, “lowering the prestige” of the party and its office-bearers.

Kirti Azad, who too was a member of the 1983 Indian cricket team which won the World Cup, has been raising his voice against corruption in DDCA for the last nine years.

The group agreed that action against Kirti was necessary to put on record that the BJP had dissociated itself from his campaign against Jaitley over alleged irregularities in the Delhi and District Cricket Association. The likes of Kirti Azad can be trusted to bring them out of hibernation.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal also slammed the BJP for sacking Azad saying the party stands exposed today.

In a statement, the party said Azad had been suspended with immediate effect for “anti-party activities”.

Mr. Azad will now seek to get in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the leaders of the Margdarshak Mandal.

In any case, party sources said the veterans felt that Azad’s suspension for “for anti-party exercises” on Wednesday had conveyed a wrong message subsequent to the cricketer-turned-government official had for a considerable length of time battled against financial wrongdoing in the DDCA. A hard-hitting batsman, Azad became a household name when he played a huge role in India winning the semi-final match against England in the 1983 World Cup. The BJP sources said that had there been no action against Azad, Jaitley’s position would have become “untenable”.

Defying the party’s whip, he also held a press conference, dragging Jaitley into the alleged DDCA scam and also making a small speech about the same in the Lok Sabha soon after the finance minister rubbished all the accusations.

According to a one-line statement by the party, Azad was suspended from the BJP for anti-party activities. The question is why aren’t some of the most experienced leaders in the BJP willing to believe this?

Swamy said he would help Azad draft his reply to the party over his suspension from its primary membership.

“Modi-ji said na khaunga na khaane dunga (neither will I indulge in corruption, nor allow anyone else to indulge in it)”.