NEW DELHI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday expelled two of its MLAs in Karnataka, ST Somashekar and A Shivaram Hebbar , for six years each due to their alleged "anti-party activities," its state president BY Vijayendra said.
The BJP high command arrived at the decision after "long deliberations", Vijayendra told reporters in Bengaluru.
Somashekar and Hebbar represent the Yashwanthpur and Yellapur assembly constituencies respectively.
A letter issued by Om Pathak, member-secretary of the BJP's central disciplinary committee, informed Hebbar that the committee had considered his response to a show-cause notice dated March 25.
"The committee also took a serious note of your repeated violations of the party discipline. It has accordingly been decided to expel you for six years with immediate effect from the primary membership of the party. You stand removed from any party position that you hold as of now," the letter read.
'Ignored warnings despite being given long rope': Vijayendra
"We gave them long rope to rectify themselves but they ignored all the warnings. Finally they have been expelled," news agency PTI quoted Karnataka BJP chief Vijayendra as saying.
"Their activities were often discussed in the party's state core committee meetings and the central leadership was also apprised about them. We had insisted that some disciplinary action should be taken against them, he added.
According to sources, Somashekar and Hebbar "often ignored the party's diktat, instructions and had stopped attending the its meetings."
In the Karnataka assembly, the two were seen "supporting" the ruling Congress, with which they were long associated before 2019, the sources alleged.
The BJP high command arrived at the decision after "long deliberations", Vijayendra told reporters in Bengaluru.
Somashekar and Hebbar represent the Yashwanthpur and Yellapur assembly constituencies respectively.
A letter issued by Om Pathak, member-secretary of the BJP's central disciplinary committee, informed Hebbar that the committee had considered his response to a show-cause notice dated March 25.
"The committee also took a serious note of your repeated violations of the party discipline. It has accordingly been decided to expel you for six years with immediate effect from the primary membership of the party. You stand removed from any party position that you hold as of now," the letter read.
'Ignored warnings despite being given long rope': Vijayendra
"We gave them long rope to rectify themselves but they ignored all the warnings. Finally they have been expelled," news agency PTI quoted Karnataka BJP chief Vijayendra as saying.
"Their activities were often discussed in the party's state core committee meetings and the central leadership was also apprised about them. We had insisted that some disciplinary action should be taken against them, he added.
According to sources, Somashekar and Hebbar "often ignored the party's diktat, instructions and had stopped attending the its meetings."
In the Karnataka assembly, the two were seen "supporting" the ruling Congress, with which they were long associated before 2019, the sources alleged.
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