BJP expels 8 erring MPS, demands enquiry into cash-for-vote scandal

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New Delhi, Jul 23: Seeking to send a strong message of party discipline, the BJP on Wednesday expelled all eight members of Parliament who had defied the party whip and voted or abstained to help the UPA government survive in the vote of confidence on Tuesday.

The party also demanded an immediate enquiry into the “cash-for-vote” scam.

Announcing the decision, BJP president Rajnath Singh said the party was expelling all the MPs who cross voted or were absent during the trust vote. While four MPs were expelled for voting for the confidence vote, four others were thrown out of the party for remaining absent from the Lok Sabha.

The party will take procedural steps to ensure that they are also disqualified from the membership of Parliament. This involves writing to the Lok Sabha Speaker seeking their disqualification, who in turn will refer their cases to the committee on privileges.

The BJP also launched a nationwide agitation protesting against the shocking incident on Tuesday when three party MPs produced bundles of cash worth Rs 1 crore and charged the UPA leadership of attempting to bribe them.

Party’s prime ministerial candidate LK Advani said July 22 would go down as a black day in the history of Parliament. Advani said: "The factor of tarnishing the integrity of Parliament will be the deciding factors in the coming elections. The whole thing is scandalous. The party has decided to go to the people on this issue. I want the Speaker to expedite the investigations in the cash for MP's vote scam." He claimed that the UPA would have lost had there been was no cross voting on Tuesday.

Advani also took a dig at Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's speech in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday where he had said that Advani should change his astrologers. "I don't know since when the Prime Minister has become interested in astrology," he said.

TDP, JDS too crack the whip