‘BJP never wants to lose any of its members, but discipline is supreme’

Bengaluru: BJP national general secretary Radha Mohan Das Agrawal on Wednesday said that the saffron party never wants to lose any of its members, but discipline is supreme for the party. The BJP in Karnataka on Tuesday expelled two of its MLAs, S T Somashekar and A Shivaram Hebbar, for six years for alleged “anti-party activities.” Somashekar and Hebbar represent Yashwanthpur and Yellapur Assembly constituencies respectively.

Agrawal, who is also in-charge of party affairs in Karnataka, said the BJP gave ample opportunities to Somashekar, Hebbar and Vijayapura MLA Basanagouda Patil Yatnal to mend their ways, but they did not change.

The saffron party never wants to lose any of its members, but discipline is supreme for the party. Indiscipline will not be tolerated irrespective of how influential that person is, Agrawal underlined.

The senior BJP leader alleged that the Congress government had filed a defamation suit against his party for publishing an advertisement in a newspaper pointing to the irregularities. He challenged Chief Minister Siddaramaiah to come for an open debate with the BJP state president B Y Vijayendra.

“If he (Siddaramaiah) has guts and confidence that the allegations against him are baseless, then he should accept our challenge. If he declines then it should be perceived that all the allegations are true, backed by facts and represent people’s sentiments,” said the Rajya Sabha member.