Ex-BSP MLA arrested for arson at Rita Bahugana Joshi’s house in 2009 joins BJP

Rita Bahuguna Joshi says she will appeal to BJP national president JP Nadda, as well as the party’s state chief Swatantra Dev to cancel Jitendra Singh Babloo’s joining

Former Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) lawmaker Jitendra Singh Babloo, who was arrested in 2009 in connection with alleged arson at the then Uttar Pradesh Congress Committee (UPCC) chief Rita Bahuguna Joshi’s Lucknow residence, was inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), along with leaders from various other political parties, in the state capital on Wednesday.

Former BSP MLA Jitendra Singh Babloo (wearing garland) after his induction into the BJP in Lucknow. (HT Photo)

Rita Bahuguna Joshi, too, is in the BJP now and currently an MP from Allahabad in Uttar Pradesh.

In a video statement released from Delhi, Joshi said, “In July 2009, when my house was targeted and burnt, Babloo was leading the arsonists. The charges against him have been framed. I am sure that he joined the party after hiding facts (about his alleged involvement in arson).”

She said that she would appeal to BJP national chief JP Nadda as well as state BJP president Swatantra Dev to cancel Babloo’s joining.

“The BJP’s doors are open for all but Babloo surely must have joined the party by hiding facts,” she said. Joshi is in Delhi, attending the monsoon session of Parliament.

When the alleged incident of arson took place at her Lucknow residence in 2009, Joshi was lodged in the Moradabad jail for allegedly making defamatory remarks against the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mayawati

This is the second allegedly controversial appointment made in the BJP after that of Arvind Tripathi as the state secretary of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM), the youth wing of the party. People familiar with the issue said Tripathi had 16 cases registered against him at Kanpur’s Kakadev police station.

Tripathi and BJYM chief Pranshu Dutt Dwivedi, however, claimed that the cases were political and that Tripathi had been exonerated in most of them.

In the latest development, Babloo, who had represented the Bikapur assembly constituency of Faizabad (now renamed Ayodhya) was inducted along with other leaders into the BJP in the presence of senior leaders. He was not only named in the arson case that took place in Lucknow on the night of July 15, 2009, but also subsequently arrested by the CB-CID. Joshi’s house in the high security Lucknow area was allegedly targeted by BSP leaders following her alleged remarks against BSP chief Mayawati, who was the Uttar Pradesh chief minister at the time.

Babloo claimed he was innocent.

“I had no role in the arson case. In fact, this is one of the reasons why I fell out with Mayawatiji. I was arrested in the case despite the fact that I had no role in the case,” he said.

Asked how he felt being in the same party with Joshi, he said, “She is a senior leader and there is no question of any bad blood (on the arson issue).”

The Congress took potshots at the development.

“Now, the accused and the victim are both with the BJP. It is for the BJP to decide whom it wants to induct into the party, but people surely are watching as to the kind of appointments being made by a party, the leaders of which love to take the moral high ground on various issues,” said Congress spokesperson Anshu Awasthi.

Other leaders inducted into the BJP include former Congress general secretary Pankaj Mohan Sonker, who had also contested the Lok Sabha polls from Azamgarh, former BSP coordinator from Ghaziabad Manoj Sharma and former BSP candidate from Rae Bareli Lok Sabha seat Pravesh Singh.Agra-based social activist Dr Beena Lavanya also joined the BJP. Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev welcomed the leaders into the party.

“Now, as I welcome you into the party, it is your responsibility to embrace the policies and ideology of the party and take the various initiatives of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Yogi Adityanath’s government to the masses,” he said.

The UP BJP chief also named DP Bharti from Badaun as the party’s state unit secretary. He appointed Ram Chandra Kannaujia from Lucknow as the state chief of the party’s scheduled caste (SC) cell.