In a dramatic reversal on Monday, leaders of Germany’s main opposition party said they would seek to remove a member of their party accused of having made discriminatory comments about Jews

The move came after senior party leaders initially gave the Christian Democrat Union’s (CDU) Martin Hohmann a slap on the wrist. Earlier the party forced the parliamentarian from the state of Hessen to give up his seat on the influential Domestic Affairs Committee and instead move over to the Environmental Committee. But on Monday, Hessen's Premier Roland Koch, who is head of the state's Christian Democrats, said he would submit a request to have Hohmann banned from the party. The move came after the head of the national CDU, Angela Merkel, said she would seek to have Hohmann removed from the party’s group in the Bundestag, Germany's parliament. Only a national party leader or the head of the state chapter of a political party is permitted to submit an application to have someone banned from the Bundestag, according to the CDU’s party rules. The parliamentary group is expected to vote on Friday whether to expell Hohmann. His further political fate will be left up to a party tribunal in his home state.