Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Nov 12: BJP Prime Ministerial candidate, Narender Modi's proposed visit to Jammu may ensure homecoming of the seven expelled MLAs of the party. Ahead of the much hyped visit, sources said, the BJP was trying hard to woo the MLAs who were expelled for cross voting during Legislative Council elections two years ago. This, however is in total contrast to the strategy of other political parties. While they are looking for new faces to field during the forthcoming assembly elections, the BJP is keen to get the old horses back into party fold. The BJP had expelled seven of its legislators-Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta, Prof. Garu Ram, Baldev Raj Sharma, Jadish Raj Sapolia, Bharat Bhushan, Master Lal Chand, Bani and Durga Dass- for cross-voting in legislative council polls on April-13 2011 in Jammu and Kashmir. The expelled MLAs, however, want to play it safe. Sources said they will take a decision only after they receive a formal invitation from the party. "We would also like to know why we were expelled," they were heard saying. They also made clear that any decision on the issue shall be taken after consulting the expelled leader, Chaman Lal Gupta. The BJP has taken the decision after some national leaders urged the local leaders to strengthen the party. Senior leaders of the party, however, said the party had not taken a final decision on the issue yet. Some of them admitted that BJP would suffer badly if the expelled leaders refuse to join the party. |
