The Hindu : D.P. Yadav out of BJP

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Feb 25, 2004

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D.P. Yadav out of BJP

By Neena Vyas

The Union Minister for Law and Justice and Company Affairs, Arun Jaitley, greeting the former Union Minister, Arif Mohammad Khan (left), who joined the BJP in New Delhi on Tuesday. — Photo: Rajeev Bhatt

NEW DELHI, FEB. 24. The Bharatiya Janata Party today withdrew membership for D.P. Yadav, member of the 11th Lok Sabha, although he was inducted into the party only four days ago amid much fanfare.

Simultaneously, the party took into its fold Arif Mohammed Khan, who had built a reputation when he resigned as Minister from the Rajiv Gandhi Government to protest against the reversal by legislation of the Supreme Court judgment in the Shah Bano case.

Laxman Singh, MP in the dissolved Lok Sabha and brother of the former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister, Digvijay Singh, was also given the BJP membership by the party general secretary, Pramod Mahajan. Both said they would stand by the ideology of their newly-adopted party and that they expected nothing but to be allowed to work as "ordinary party workers."

Announcing the withdrawal of membership from Mr. Yadav, the BJP president, Venkaiah Naidu, said the decision was taken after consultations with the Prime Minister, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, and the Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani. While taking him into the party on February 20, Mr. Naidu had said the party would be strengthened in western Uttar Pradesh as a result. But, apparently, after days of criticism in the media, revolving round a number of charges that Mr. Yadav had faced in different places (although he had not been convicted), the party came to the conclusion that it was better to de-induct him.

"The membership of the party has been withdrawn from D.P. Yadav. Last night, I met the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister and consulted them. Mr. Yadav also called me and said that if because of him the party was suffering that should not happen," Mr. Naidu said. Some party leaders had openly expressed the fear that Mr. Yadav's induction would lead to a backlash from middle-class voters, especially in Delhi, Ghaziabad and Noida.

Mr. Khan told the press that he had always fought communal politics. "Now I want to earn the goodwill of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh," he said.

To questions, he denied that he had been indulging in party hopping even as he admitted that he had been a member of the Congress, the Jan Morcha, the Janata Dal of V.P. Singh, the Bahujan Samaj Party and now the BJP. His association with the Lok Janshakti of Ram Vilas Paswan was explained away as "personal friendship." Admitting that the riots in Gujarat had ripped apart the Hindu and Muslim communities, he said that from "inside" the BJP and with the "help of the RSS" he could re-build the bridges of trust.

He charged the Congress with "flying the secular flag" while "playing the communal card" repeatedly.

Mr. Laxman Singh's explanation for deserting the Congress to join the BJP was short and simple. He was astonished when the Congress forged an alliance with the DMK, the MDMK and the PMK, after having charged them in 1998 with a role in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination.

Even when he was in the Congress he had "more respect for BJP leaders than the Congress leadership," he added. He said he had not bargained for a Lok Sabha seat with the BJP but would be content to be an ordinary party worker.

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