"It's difficult to see how anyone would have the sort of trust you need in a team with behaviour like that," one said.
Another MP said: "There's always a way back."
Thus far, no other MP has publicly backed Sharma's claims – but those MPs spoken to did support Kieran McAnulty, who Sharma accused of bullying him when he was a whip.
On Monday afternoon, Sharma ambushed Labour with another Facebook post repeating claims he was bullied as the party whips dealt with staffing issues in his office, claiming other MPs had also faced it and that the PM's office and Labour had refused to look into his complaints.
The post went up just as the Prime Minister started her weekly post-Cabinet press conference.
Labour's ruling council has a separate process to investigate and decide whether or not to expel Sharma from the wider party. President Claire Szabo and general secretary Rob Salmond both declined to comment.
The party has a code of conduct which covers both party members and MPs, and grounds for disciplinary action for serious misconduct include bringing the party into disrepute.
It is rarely invoked: the last MP to be kicked out of caucus and the party was Chris Carter in 2010 for undermining then leader Phil Goff.
If expelled, Sharma will remain the MP for Hamilton West unless he resigned from Parliament or the party invoked the provisions of the waka jumping legislation to try to force him out.
The situation was sparked by Sharma being told by the party whips that he could not hire further staff after complaints about him by staff – the NZ Herald understands that was triggered after at least three staffers voiced concerns while working for him or when they quit.
Ardern has confirmed there were multiple complaints about him by staff, but he had not taken well to attempts to give him more training and management support.
The staffing freeze was lifted at a meeting on Thursday – but since then Sharma has made repeated statements alleging bullying by the party whips and claiming Labour had refused to investigate his side of the story by looking into his own claims or whether claims by staffers against him were valid.
Sharma's Facebook post on Tuesday included screenshots of texts Sharma claimed were with another MP, talking about the impact of work on their mental health and not wanting to go into work. Sharma claimed they were evidence of other MPs being bullied.
Sharma did not respond to requests for comment after the PM's press conference, but earlier in the day Sharma said he did not want to speculate on whether he would be disciplined by his caucus or the party.
"It's really up to them, I can't decide for them.
"As I said, I just hoped for a genuine trial and resolution, but obviously that's not happened."
Ardern said she would leave it to caucus to decide if Sharma had fallen foul of the party's rules.
"What is black and white in our rules is the expectation that when there are issues they are raised with the whips, the leader, or people nominated by the leader. Then, if the issue remains unresolved, caucus can be the ultimate place to raise concerns. Those avenues have not always been used in this case."
She was not aware of any other MPs who claimed they had been bullied by the whips.
She would not say whether there were other cases where MPs and staff had issues, but said it was "not a widespread issue".
Ardern said she had looked at the handling of Sharma's case by the whips.
"From what I have seen of the engagements, I have seen interventions that were used because of concerns raised by staff members around Gaurav's management of his team. It is clear there wasn't always agreement that was necessary by Gaurav. But that doesn't necessarily constitute what he has characterised as bullying."
Over the weekend, Sharma's Hamilton West electorate committee wrote to the Labour Party and Labour's caucus in support of Sharma and calling for an independent investigation into the claims he had made.
"Given the serious concerns he has been raising for a long time, we hope [there is] an independent and in-depth inquiry into his claims and give him the fair trial he deserves," says the letter.
The letter, with more than 20 signatures, said Sharma would continue to have their "unconditional support" until any such inquiry reported back.
Chris Carter was expelled in 2010 after sending anonymous letters to journalists claiming that then-Labour leader Phil Goff could not win the next election and that other MPs could do a better job.
Caucus expelled Carter in the middle of the year. This was followed up in October by Carter's expulsion from the Labour Party by its governing council. At the time, the Labour President was Andrew Little, who is a member of Labour's current caucus and a senior Cabinet minister.
Carter sat out the rest of the Parliamentary term as an independent MP and retired at the 2011 election. Carter has since re-joined the Labour Party.
