I would have resigned if I was in Somnath's place: Malhotra

New Delhi, Jul 23 (UNI) The BJP today took a very technical and legalistic stand on the expulsion of the Lok Sabha Speaker when it said that every MP was bound by the party whip and the member is bound to lose his membership in the event of violating the party line.

Asked to comment on the CPI-M expelling Mr Somnath Chatterjee for 'seriously compromising the position of the party', BJP Parliamentary Party Deputy Leader Vijay Kumar Malhotra said he was not aware if there was any whip from the party to Mr Somnath Chatterjee.

"Had I been in Mr Somnath's position, I would have resigned, if my party were to ask me to resign under similar circumstances," Mr Malhotra remarked. He also revealed that Deputy Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal had offered to resign his post if the NDA wanted him to exercise his vote in the Confidence Motion but the NDA allowed him to continue in his post, he said.

Mr Malhotra's comments comes in the wake of BJP expelling eight MPs for violating the party whip in yesterday's confidence vote in the Lok Sabha.

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