Shimla, Aug 19 - The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), wrestling with unprecedented internal dissent, Wednesday expelled its veteran leader Jaswant Singh from the party over alleged ideological transgressions related to his remarks on Pakistan's founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah.

The decision to expel the 71-year-old leader, a former Indian Army major in the Armoured Corps who has held the portfolios of finance, defence and external affairs in BJP-led governments, was taken by the party's parliamentary board, said BJP president Rajnath Singh.

The decision, according to party insiders, carried the imprimatur of L.K. Advani who himself had raised a storm in the party with his eulogistic views on Jinnah during his visit to Pakistan four years ago.

Within hours of his expulsion, Jaswant Singh who was in Shimla but had been instructed by Rajnath Singh to stay away from the 'chintan baithak (introspection session) as 'tempers were running high', met the media and said with tears in his eyes: 'I have committed no sin.'

He said he had been expelled 'for merely writing a book' without even the courtesy of a show-cause notice. As someone who had been associated with the party for 30 years since his inception, he said, the decision had left him saddened but he would not appeal against the move.

'I do not want to compromise on my self-respect for the path I have chosen for myself,' he said, stressing that his political career was far from over in spite of this setback.

Jaswant Singh, an MP from Darjeeling, has also been stripped of all party posts.

'He is now not a member of any forum of the party. I tried to inform him yesterday on the phone but he had left for Shimla,' Rajnath Singh said lamely about why Jaswant Singh, who reached Shimla Tuesday afternoon for the three-day meeting, had not been informed.

On Tuesday, Rajnath Singh said the BJP had dissociated itself from the Jaswant Singh's views on Jinnah.

'Yesterday, I issued a statement about the BJP dissociating itself from Jaswant Singh's views. The party discussed the matter at the chintan baithak and it was decided to expel him.

'I put up the issue before the parliamentary board today, which decided to cancel his primary membership and he has been expelled from the party,' he said.