PDP expels MP from party for attending swearing-in of L-G Murmu

Srinagar: The PDP expelled its Rajya Sabha member Nazir Ahmad Laway from the party on Friday for "anti-party activities", after he had attended the swearing-in ceremony of the new Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir.

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"The member of Rajya Sabha, Nazir Ahmed Laway, has been expelled from the basic membership of the party," a People’s Democratic Party (PDP) spokesman said in a statement here.

The decision, he said, has been taken by the party leadership in view of Laway's participation in the swearing-in ceremony of the newly appointed Lieutenant Governor in Srinagar undermining the party's stand.

He said that the participation of the MP was in contravention to the party's stand regarding the current political situation and the revocation of Jammu and Kashmir's special status under Article 370 of the Constitution.

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G C Murmu was on Thursday sworn in as lieutenant governor (L-G) of Jammu and Kashmir.

The union territories of Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh, have been carved out of the state of Jammu and Kashmir, in accordance with the government's August 5 decision to revoke the special status of the state under Article 370 and bifurcate it into two UTs.

This is not for the first time that Laway has gone against the directives and instructions of the party, the spokesman said.

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Prior to this, Laway had abstained from voting against the triple talaq bill in Rajya Sabha this year.

Laway had torn a copy of the Constitution, along with PDP MP Mir Mohammed Fayaz, on August 5 before Union Home Minister Amit Shah laid the Jammu and Kashmir Reorganisation Bill in Rajya Sabha.

Laway did not respond to repeated telephone calls.