The fact that L.K. Advani went along with the decision surprised many. But others more familiar with entrenched thinking felt that Advani, party president Rajnath Singh, Arun Jaitley and others who were part of the BJP parliamentary board meeting that took the expulsion decision were only ensuring that their own positions (their 'kursis') were not threatened by the new dissidents that Jaswant Singh and people like Yashwant Sinha and Arun Shourie had come to represent.

That the expulsion came just a day after former president M. Venkaiah Naidu stated that 'no action' was being contemplated against Jaswant Singh showed that the top leadership was in a hurry to smother the rising dissent at the party conclave that was to be attended by about 25 top leaders, said the BJP leader.

Yet another pro-BJP analyst rued the role of Advani in the episode saying he himself had allowed the party to deviate from its stated position on Gorkhaland when it came out in support of a separate state before the elections to ensure a victory for Jaswant Singh who was contesting from Darjeeling for the first time.

'This (separatist) stand cost the BJP several seats in West Bengal, but Advani then found it more opportune to assure himself of at least one MP (Jaswant) in support of his leadership, rather than look at the larger party interests in a state where the Communists were in retreat,' said the commentator.

This episode may have long-term repercussions for the party in terms of its support among sections of the middle class, the armed forces and academic circles for whom Jaswant Singh represented the voice of the moderate, English-speaking, progressive view in the party that had helped it to reach a wider constituency beyond its conservative, Hindu chauvinist, trader base.