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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36 injured as private bus plunges off bridge in Karnataka’s Shivamogga
Shivamogga (Karnataka) (PTI): Thirty-six people were injured on Monday after a private bus allegedly went out of control and plunged off a bridge in the district, police said.
The incident occurred at around 1.30 pm near Kagehalla in Veerapura village of Bhadravati taluk, they said.
According to police, the bus was travelling from Channagiri in Davanagere district to Bhadravati when the driver allegedly lost control of the vehicle near a bridge across a stream.
The bus hit the bridge’s side barrier and overturned into the stream below, which had a very low water level.
A total of 36 people, including the driver and conductor, were injured in the accident, a senior police officer said.
Of them, 25 sustained minor injuries and were shifted to a nearby hospital for treatment, he added.
A case has been registered at the Bhadravati Rural police station, and further investigation is underway, police said.
