•SAD: In Chandigarh, even as SAD president Sukhbir Badal said the party had expelled Sukhdev Singh Libra and had requested the Lok Sabha Speaker to disqualify him from the House, the rebel MP said he had abstained from voting against the UPA Government because he felt that the deal was in the interest of the nation.

Dismissing allegations that he had been bribed to abstain from the voting as “baseless”, Libra said the BJP as well as the SAD had publicly stated in the past that they were in favour of the nuclear deal.

•BJD: Stung by rebel MP Harihar Swain’s decision to support the UPA during the trust motion, the BJD announced the 73-year-old member’s expulsion on Tuesday night. Hundreds of party supporters in Ganjam demonstrated in front of his house and burnt his effigy with a call for social boycott. BJD activists and leaders in Ganjam district are preparing to stage a protest against Swain as soon as he arrives in Bhubaneshwar.

•TDP: The TDP expelled Nagarkurnool MP M Jagannath and issued a show-cause notice to Chitoor MP Adikesavulu Naidu. Jagannath subsequently released a statement to the TDP, claiming that he voted according to his conscience. Party sources said he was likely to quit before the party takes a decision on whether to expel him. Party president N Chandrababu Naidu has so far claimed that it was confirmed that only Jagannath voted for the UPA in defiance of the whip, and that the party was taking time to confirm exactly what happened with Naidu in Parliament, since his vote was declared invalid.

... contd.