Senior UP BJP leader expelled for dubbing party's top leadership as 'Gujarati thugs'
Lucknow, Mar 25: The BJP Monday expelled one of its senior Lucknow-based leaders after he dubbed the party's top leadership as "Gujarati thugs" and asked if the BJP has chosen a 'pradhan mantri' (prime minister) or a prachar mantri (advertisement minister).
While attacking the BJP's top leadership in a series of tweets, the party's former spokesperson I P Singh also hailed Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's candidature from Azamgarh and offered him his residence for use as his poll campaign office.
"I P Singh has been expelled from the party for six years on directions of the BJP state president," said a party release here.
The expulsion followed after Singh attacked the BJP leadership in a series of tweets from his official Twitter account having a prefix "usuldaar" (principled) to his name.
"I belong to a principled 'kshatriya' family. Two Gujarati thugs have been befooling Hindi-speaking people for the last five years after capturing the country's Hindi heartland, while we are silent," he said in one of his tweets Friday.
"Our UP is six times bigger than Gujarat with an economy of Rs five lakh crore against Gujarat's Rs one lakh 15 thousand crore," said Singh, adding, in such a situation what would they eat and what development would they cause.
In another tweet, he said, "Have we elected a 'pradhan mantri' or 'prachar mantri'? Does the country's prime minister look good selling t-shirt and tea cup?"
"The BJP has been a party which made its place in the people's hearts through its ideology. It's impossible to 'produce' workers with missed calls and T-shirts," he added.
An Azamgarh native, Singh had on Sunday also welcomed Akhilesh Yadav's candidature from there and offered his house to be used as his election office.
"The people of eastern UP are overjoyed and the youths here are excited after the announcement of Akhilesh Yadav's candidature from Poorvanchal. It heralds an end of the politics of caste and religion," said Singh.
Reacting to his expulsion, Singh tweeted further, "I have come to know from the media friends that I have been expelled from the party for six years."
"I had given my three decades to the party. Even speaking truth is a crime in the party which has lost its internal democracy," he added.
"Forgive me Narendra Modi ji! I could not have work as your chowkidar (watchman) with a strap on my eyes," he added.
Singh had last year reportedly written to BJP president Amit Shah to replace Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh with him as the BJP candidate from Lok Sabha in the 2019 general elections.
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Ruckus outside counting centre in Mamata's constituency, TMC claims entry of car with BJP flag
Kolkata (PTI): The counting centre at West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's Bhabanipur assembly constituency witnessed a ruckus a day ahead of the counting of votes, with TMC workers alleging two cars bearing the BJP's flag were allowed entry to the compound where EVMs are kept.
The incident comes close on the heels of a four-hour-long sit-in by Banerjee in front of the same counting centre at the Sakhawat Memorial Girls School on Thursday night, alleging unauthorised entry of persons into the strongroom.
With the polling now over, the wrangling for power in West Bengal has turned into a battle of nerves between the incumbent TMC and the BJP. Workers and leaders of both parties have been keeping a steely gaze on the security of strongrooms across the state where the electoral fate of the candidates is sealed.
Despite expressing her confidence in a "landslide victory", Banerjee has repeatedly aired her apprehensions of "counting malpractice and EVM tampering ahead of the day of results".
On Sunday morning, TMC workers camping 100 metres from the counting centre alleged that two cars with BJP flags entered the premises and went near the strongroom.
"The CAPF personnel at the spot are not allowing any vehicle or person to enter the premises of the counting centre without valid identity proof. Then how come this car, which we have not seen in the past few days, was allowed entry? Once we protested, the central forces asked us to move 100 metres away," a TMC activist said.
The TMC claimed that while the police personnel posted there promised the vehicle would be removed from the spot, it remained there for some time.
A senior Election Commission official said the car was passing by the Harish Mukherjee Road, and after checking by security forces and police, it was allowed to leave as nothing objectionable was found in it.
On Thursday night, two counting centres, including one at Sakhawat Memorial Girls School in the city, witnessed high drama after TMC leaders alleged a lack of transparency and possible malpractice at the strongrooms housing sealed EVMs of the assembly polls, which concluded on April 29.
TMC leaders and candidates, Sashi Panja and Kunal Ghosh, held a sit-in outside the Khudiram Anushilan Kendra counting centre on Thursday evening, alleging unauthorised activities inside the strongroom amid the absence of TMC agents
In Howrah, TMC protested renovation work by the public works department at a place adjacent to the strongroom, and the EC stopped the work temporarily.
On Saturday, the ruling party filed a complaint with the poll panel, alleging unauthorised sorting of postal ballot covers at the EVM strongroom in Khudiram Anushilan Kendra.
Similar scenes were witnessed on Saturday outside the strongrooms at Asansol College in Paschim Bardhaman and the Barasat Government College in North 24 Parganas districts, where TMC workers held protests, alleging that CCTV cameras were switched off for several minutes.
The EC turned down all allegations, saying the surveillance cameras were working in an uninterrupted manner.
BJP spokesperson Sajal Ghosh told reporters that the people of Bengal were finding it "hilarious" that the TMC, "which used to win elections through unfair means and strongarm tactics" were now coming up with all sorts of "frivolous charges".
"Are they scared of losing?" he posed.
