Ali dares Naqvi to prove allegations as party annuls his membership
Giving in to the strong opposition from within its own quarters and also from the RSS over its latest recruit, the BJP on Saturday annulled the membership of former JD(U) MP Sabir Ali. This is the second instance within a week of the BJP annulling the membership of a new entrant, the first being that of Sri Ram Sena leader Pramod Muthalik.
“Membership of Sabir Ali stands annulled,” announced Ravi Shankar Prasad, BJP’s chief media coordinator. He, however, said that while deciding on the issue, BJP president Rajnath Singh took a “serious view” of the statements made by party leaders in public and advised that they should air their views in party forum only.
The BJP’s move, coming in less than 24 hours, was made easier by Ali himself. He wrote a letter to BJP general secretary and in-charge of Bihar Dharmendra Pradhan saying his membership should be suspended until the time doubts about him were cleared by an enquiry.
But by then, the dissent over his induction, initiated by BJP’s vice president MA Naqvi, grew in strength with more party leaders like Balbir Punj and Vinay Katiyar expressing their opposition to the move and the RSS too making it clear it was not in favour of it.
Naqvi created a flutter on Friday by going public against Ali’s induction. “Terrorist Bhatkal friend joins BJP... Soon accepting Dawood,” he tweeted. He removed the tweet on Saturday as the BJP made the move to annul Ali’s membership. “The purpose is served. I needed to convey my views to the party leadership and the leadership has taken my views seriously. From my side, the issue is closed,” he said. Naqvi said he has nothing personal against Ali, but “the perception about him is not good. He does not have a good image”.
Ali, however, dared Naqvi to prove the charges against him and maintained he would quit politics if they are proved. He also said, “I will file a defamation case against Naqvi. I am also ready to sit with him for a debate.”
However, not all in the BJP seemed to be unhappy over his entry. Former party president Nitin Gadkari said, “It is election time and the prime focus is to defeat the Congress. We need to move forward with everyone’s support”.
Senior leader Arun Jaitley said it is the investigation or the judiciary which will decide on whether anyone is guilty or innocent and should not take the country to such a pass that a political party or a TV anchor would decide that.
RSS national executive member Ram Madhav also tweeted on Saturday saying the induction has caused “great resentment” and the party leadership has been apprised of “the strong views of the cadre against it.”
The admission of Ali, who had hopped from the lJP to the RJD and to the JD(U) from which he was expelled for his remarks praising Narendra Modi, led BJP Rajya Sabha member Balbir to term the move as incorrect. “There was no reason to induct a man, who in the past has been tainted with serious charges of terrorism. The perception about his past does not gel at all with the culture of BJP,” he said.