Star BJP Mps to be asked to explain absence

While the Lucknow meeting of the BJP national executive and council was supposed to be a low key, spartan affair, the low attendance at the meet was not part of the plan.

Many stars of the party, including film star MPs Shatrughan Sinha, Vinod Khanna, Hema Malini and others including Maneka Gandhi and her son Varun Gandhi stayed away from the meet.

All of them will now be at the receiving end of letters from party president Rajnath Singh asking for an explanation for such absenteeism.

The MPs are being asked to explain why they did not turn up for the event that endorsed the re-election of their party chief Rajnath Singh for a full three-year term.

"Absentees are being issued letters by the party to explain why they did not turn up," a party source said. Similar letters are being sent to BJP MLAs who are members of the national council but did not attend its meeting.

In his address to the BJP's Lucknow conclave, Singh had cautioned his party colleagues that they could risk losing their positions if they were not humble and disciplined.

The BJP chief, whose party appears to be locked in a tussle for leadership supremacy, has remarked that posts have to be accepted as responsibilities and not as positions of pride.

"Never give up humility and grace. Those who give them up cannot remain 'karyakarta' for long," Singh, who also addressed himself as a 'karyakarta' (worker), told the Lucknow national council meeting after the ratification of his re-election as party president.

Backed by the Sangh, the BJP chief is set to announce a new team possibly this month, party sources said.