Humza Yousaf has told his warring SNP MSPs they should quit unless their focus is on fighting for independence.
In a thinly disguised rebuke to colleagues, the First Minister issued the instruction as splits continued to dog his leadership.
Yousaf’s leadership has been overshadowed by the police investigation into how £600,000 of indyref2 donations were spent.
Former party leader Nicola Sturgeon was arrested at the weekend, and released without charge, but the development has split the MSP group.
Ash Regan and Michelle Thomson called for Sturgeon to quit the party while others rubbished the idea.
At the weekly group meeting of MSPs, Yousaf said colleagues should be concentrating on independence.
He questioned why they were at Holyrood if independence was not their focus and asked MSPs to consider whether their actions helped the independence cause.
A decision was made at the same meeting to send Sturgeon flowers.
It came as Health Secretary Michael Matheson backed the decision not to suspend Sturgeon:
"I do believe that the First Minister is absolutely correct to point out that, that Nicola Sturgeon has not been found guilty of anything, not charged with any matters, she was questioned by the police and was released."
Meanwhile, former SNP leader Alex Salmond has defended Yousaf’s stance not to kick out Sturgeon.
He said: "I actually think that Humza Yousaf has set a perfectly defensible line - the presumption of innocence. You don't suspend people until they are charged with something, and that hasn't happened as yet.
"His difficulty, of course, is that it wasn't the position adopted by Nicola Sturgeon or Peter Murrell the chief executive, her husband, when they were in power. I mean, they used to suspend people at the drop of a hat basically."
He added: "The position that was set out by the First Minister yesterday was the right one and I believe it demonstrates his willingness to recognise that there is a process in the party which will be adhered to and will be applied across the board, irrespective as to who the member may actually be should the circumstances arise."
He also claimed criticised the policy legacy Sturgeon had left Yousaf:
"She's left a difficult policy agenda in the Scots Parliament, full of, you know, pretty absurd and silly policies like self-identification, closing fishing areas, bottle schemes, [and] abolishing some trials by jury.
"Now, you're never going to get a majority of Scots behind such policies, and my strong advice to Humza Yousaf is to sweep that nonsense away.
"Concentrate on the key issues of housing, education, health, and restore confidence in the Scottish government's running of the Scottish Parliament."
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