Now,Maneka joins the dissidents,backs Jaswant

BJP Member of Parliament from the Aonla constituency in Uttar Pradesh,Maneka Gandhi,on Saturday extended her support to expelled party leader Jaswant Singh,saying that the party leadership had treated him unfairly with regard to his latest book on Jinnah.

Gandhi said that the decision taken at the Chintan Baithak in Shimla last week was uncalled for. She said that the BJP leadership should have read Jaswant Singh’s book first before taking a decision to expel him on disciplinary grounds.

Gandhi’s reaction came a day after Singh filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Gujarat Government’s decision to ban his latest book – Jinnah -India,Partition,Independence.

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Deploring the ban of the book,Singh has already said that books are a medium of expression in the country,and professed the right to freedom of speech and expression.

The Narendra Modi-led Gujarat Government had banned the sale of Singh’s book in the State last week.