Shimla, Aug 19 - He had gone from being the party's Hanuman to its Ravana, a tearful Jaswant Singh said Wednesday shortly after he got a phone call from Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Rajnath Singh that he had been expelled from the party.

Saying that he was 'sad and regretful', the 71-year-old former union minister, who has held the portfolios of defence, finance and external affairs, said he got a phone call at 1 p.m. from Rajnath Singh informing him that he had been expelled from the 'basic membership of the party'.

'It is sad and I regret it for a number of reasons, which I cannot explain in detail,' Jaswant Singh said in the Himachal Pradesh capital where the BJP began its three-day introspection meeting Wednesday.

The expulsion comes two days after the release of his controversial book praising Pakistan founder Mohammed Ali Jinnah, 'Jinnah: India, Partition, Independence'.

He referred to a cartoon in India Today magazine that had portrayed him as Hanuman and said he had now become the Ravana of the BJP.