Will BJP crack the whip on Ram Jethmalani?

The Bharatiya Janata Party has indicated it may take disciplinary action against Ram Jethmalani who has demanded party president Nitin Gadkari's resignation and disagreed with the party's stand over the appointment of new CBI director.

"Jethmalani has been making statements against the BJP President and has now spoken against the two Leaders of the Opposition. We completely deny his charges against them. The party has taken serious note of his statements and strong action will be taken at the appropriate time," BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain said.

In a letter to Gadkari on Saturday, Jethmalani had criticised the Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sushma Swaraj and her Rajya Sabha counterpart Arun Jaitley for writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh against the appointment of Ranjit Sinha as the next CBI Chief.

Swaraj and Jaitley maintained that Sinha's appointment has been made despite an unanimous recommendation by the Rajya Sabha Select Committee on Lokpal that the CBI Director should be appointed by a collegium.

"Jethmalani has written a letter to the BJP President in which he has spoken against Sushma Swaraj and Arun Jaitley. BJP denies his charges against its leaders and condemns it. His allegations are baseless and will only help Congress," Hussain said.

Swaraj and Jaitley had asked Singh to keep Sinha's appointment in abeyance but the PM wrote back rejecting the BJP demand.

Earlier, Jethmalani had demanded that Gadkari should immediately step down in the wake of charges of dubious funding of his Purti Group.

BJP sources said since Jethmalani is an MP and he cannot be summarily acted against. "The party follows a process in such cases where discipline has been breached," a party leader said.