A group of senior, but sidelined, BJP leaders — L. K. Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi, Shanta Kumar and Yashwant Sinha — waded into the row on Thursday, making it even more difficult for the party to wish it away.

Mr. Azad had declared that he would seek help from the group of elders, termed the Margdarshak Mandal, to fight the suspension, and the group decided to meet to firm up its position. “The senior leaders have decided to intervene in the interest of the party. I also want Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene and I shall be writing to him soon,” Mr. Azad said.

Mr. Azad was supposed to meet the elders at Mr. Joshi’s residence after he returned from Ahmedabad on Thursday evening, but later decided to seek time from Mr. Advani on Friday morning, after wishing former PM Atal Behari Vajpayee on his birthday.

He also found unexpected support from BJP leader Subramanian Swamy who has assured him help in drafting a response to the notice.

Azad suspension disturbs BJP elders

Senior leaders of the Bharatiya Janata Party — L K Advani, Murli Manohar Joshi,Yahswant SInha and Shanta Kumar — who have been sidelined from the organisation, met on Thursday morning at the residence of Dr. Joshi, following the suspension on Wednesday evening of Kriti Jha Azad, party MP from Darbhanga, in Bihar.

While Mr Joshi dismissed the meeting as just a courtesy call, Mr Kumar said incidents of differences in the party were not good.

Sources close to the developments said that “the group decided to meet after the suspension notice was served on Kirti Azad after the Winter Session was adjourned sine die. Mr. Advani called up Mr. Joshi and sought a meeting.”

The group, termed the Margdarshak Mandal, had earlier met after the BJP lost the Assembly elections in Bihar and had released a joint statement decrying the party leadership for having “emasculated” the party organisation.