Jaswant's book just the immediate provocation for expulsion

The Bharatiya Janata Party's Chintan Baithak in Shimla on Wednesday began with the expulsion of one of its senior most leaders, Jaswant Singh.

However, Jaswant Singh's book on Jinnah was only the immediate provocation for his expulsion. NDTV has learnt that BJP leaders were ready with a chargesheet against Jaswant on Wednesday morning itself, and that his expulsion was already on the cards.

One of the charges put by BJP leaders on Jaswant is that he has been consistently embarrassing the party ever since the poll verdict by criticising it in public.

The chargesheet also says that Jaswant targeted the team Lal Krishna Advani picked for Parliament, comprising of Sushma Swaraj as Advani's deputy in Lok Sabha and Arun Jaitely as Opposition Leader in Rajya Sabha.

Another charge put on Jaswant is that his book on Jinnah, where he praised Jinnah and criticised Sardar Patel, struck at the Sangh Parivar's ideological core.

However, the BJP's troubles don't end with Jaswant out of the way. The RSS wants the party to discuss the party's poll debacle, fix responsibility, and bring a generational change in the party leadership, which is what a section in the BJP has been avoiding.

On Wednesday, after expelling Jaswant, the leaders had a long discussion on what went wrong in the polls. Both the reports compiled by Bal Apte were discussed at length.

Forum: Is BJP justified in sacking Jaswant?