Though the Suspended BJP MP Ram Jethmalani represents Rajasthan in Rajya Sabha, but he is a lonely face in state politics as no one came forward in his support. On the contrary, party leaders supported the move to suspend him. State BJP chief, Arun Chaturvedi, said no one is above the party discipline.
Since his election to Rajya Sabha in June 2010, Mr Jethmalani has never been seen as active in the state politics, nor did he take any interest in issues related to Rajasthan. Senior BJP leader and former Rajya Sabha MP Ramdas Agarwal, said each and every leader should necessarily follow the party discipline. He said that despite being a senior leader and lawyer, Mr Jethmalani had violated the party discipline. He had left no option before the party except to taking action against him, he added.
The party had faced a tough time when the central leadership announced his candidature for Rajya Sabha elections in 2010 from Rajasthan. Several senior party MLAs had opposed his name. A group of RSS-backed MLAs were not happy they way he defended Afzal Guru while former minister and BJP MLA Devi Singh Bhati was vocally against him.
The BJP had herded its MLAs at a resort and virtually locked them up in a hotel in the outskirts of Jaipur to keep its flock together but Mr Bhati had termed it as captivity and refused to stay at the hotel. The party leaders had also expressed displeasure when they were asked to give first priority votes to Mr Jethmalani over local leader V.P. Singh.