BJP leader suspended for 'purifying' temple visited by Congress' Tikaram Jully
Jaipur (PTI): The BJP suspended former MLA Gyandev Ahuja from the primary membership of the party for "purifying" a temple in Alwar that was visited by Congress leader Tikaram Jully.
Earlier in the day, the Congress accused the BJP of being "anti-Dalit" and demanded an apology from its top leadership after Ahuja sprinkled Ganga water at the Ram temple following the participation of Jully, a Dalit, in the consecration ceremony there.
BJP state general secretary Damodar Agarwal issued a show cause notice to Ahuja on Tuesday and sought a reply within three days.
"As per the instructions of the BJP state president, you are suspended from the primary membership of the Bharatiya Janata Party with immediate effect," the order said.
The letter said, if Ahuja wants to give any clarification on these allegations, he can do so within three days, after which, further disciplinary action will be taken against him accordingly.
"The party's image has been tarnished by Ahuja's statement and act in this matter and his act comes under the definition of gross indiscipline," the letter said.
Congress workers protested at the district headquarters on Tuesday over the incident and termed the incident as an example of the BJP's 'anti-Dalit mentality.' Ahuja's effigy was also burnt in many places.
Congress veteran and former chief minister Ashok Gehlot criticised the BJP leader, saying, "The incident of BJP leader Ahuja sprinkling Gangajal after Leader of Opposition Jully visited the temple reflects the BJP's ill-will towards Dalits. Such narrow-mindedness is not acceptable in a civilised society in the 21st century. No amount of strong words can be used to condemn this."
Maintaining that there was no caste angle to his act, Ahuja, however, defended his action, saying Congress leaders have "no moral authority" to attend such ceremonies as the party's leadership had questioned the existence of Lord Ram and "boycotted" the consecration ceremony in Ayodhya last year.
Dalit leader Jully is a Congress MLA from Alwar (rural) seat, while Ahuja is a former BJP MLA from Alwar's Ramgarh assembly constituency.
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Krunal's rare IPL fifty helps RCB beat DC and extend unbeaten away run
RCB jump to top of IPL 2025 points table
New Delhi, Apr 27 (PTI): Krunal Pandya recorded his first fifty in IPL since 2016, helping Royal Challengers Bengaluru pull off a six-wicket win over Delhi Capitals on a challenging Feroz Shah Kotla track here on Sunday.
Krunal (73 not out of 47 balls), who has part of every IPL season since his debut in 2016, paced his innings perfectly while batting alongside chase master Virat Kohli (51 off 47).
The duo shared a 119-run stand off 84 balls as RCB chased down 163 in 18.3 overs to extend their unbeaten run away from home.
RCB bowlers put a squeeze on Delhi Capitals in the middle overs through Josh Hazlewood and the spinners to limit the home team to 162 for six.
For RCB, it was their seventh win in 10 games while DC suffered only their third loss in nine matches. Both teams are on course to make the play-offs.
At 26 for three, RCB felt the heat before Krunal and Kohli bailed them out.
In his maiden season for RCB, Krunal has made valuable contributions with both bat and ball.
On Sunday night, Kohli played the perfect anchor as Krunal came up with timely hits on a difficult surface to deliver a fine win for his team. His straight hit through the line off Mukesh Kumar and an aerial drive over cover off the wily Kuldeep Yadav stood out among his four sixes.
Kohli's consistency has been remarkable this season and the knock against DC was his sixth 50-plus score in 10 innings. The highlight of his solid effort was the straight drive off Mitchell Starc.
The night, however, belonged to Krunal who collected only his second 50-plus score in 116 IPL innings.
Earlier, K L Rahul (41 off 39 balls) was the top-scorer for DC but it was Tristian Stubbs (34 off 18 balls) who helped the hosts post a fighting total.
RCB put the opposition in to bat, expecting better batting conditions during the run chase.
Faf du Plessis (22 off 26 balls) returned from injury to join Abhishek Porel (28 off 11) at the top of the order but it was the latter who ensured DC reached 52 for two in the powerplay.
The southpaw, who has been in fine form this season, came up with a couple of sizzling sixes in his entertaining cameo. Both came off Bhuvneshwar Kumar -- one was a left-handed hit over mid-wicket and the second was a pick-up shot over fine leg.
As veteran du Plessis struggled to get going at the other end, Porel found the ropes with relative ease.
Lead RCB pacer Hazlewood, who has been relentless with his hard lengths, took three balls to get the breakthrough as he cramped Porel to have him caught behind down the leg side.
Karun Nair, who began with a short arm pull off Hazlewood for a boundary, played an ordinary shot off Yash Dayal in the following over and his mishit was pouched at mid-wicket.
The spinners got into operation after the powerplay and overs 7-10 was the phase when RCB were able to stem the flow of runs, conceding just 20 runs off the four overs from Suyash Sharma and Krunal Pandya, who got rid of du Plessis in that period.
It was only towards the end of the innings that DC managed to get some momentum, all thanks to the blitzkrieg from Stubbs.
The 18th and 19th over from Hazlewood and Dayal yielded 17 and 19 runs, enabling DC to cross the 160-run mark.
Brief Scores:
Delhi Capitals: 162 for 8 in 20 overs (KL Rahul 41; Bhuveshwar Kumar 3/33).
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: 165 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Krunal Pandya 73, Virat Kohli 51; Axar Patel 2/19).
