The Congress on Saturday expelled Acharya Pramod Krishnam from the party for "indiscipline" and making repeated statements against the party.
Krishnam, who had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls from Lucknow on a Congress ticket but lost, had recently praised Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya and criticised the Congress' stance of its leadership skipping the event.
"In view of complaints about indiscipline and repeatedly making statement against the party, Congress president has approved the Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee's proposal to expel Shri Pramod Krishnam for six years with immediate effect," a statement issued by Congress general secretary (organisation) K C Venugopal said.
Krishnam had also met Prime Minister Modi earlier this month and invited him to the foundation stone laying ceremony of Shri Kalki Dham in Uttar Pradesh's Sambhal on February 19.
Of late, he has been criticising some of the decisions of the Congress leadership, including that of not participating in the Ram temple consecration ceremony in Ayodhya on January 22.