JD-U leader slams BJP for dumping Laxman

Even as former BJP president Bangaru Laxman resigned from the party’s national executive committee, leader of ally Janata Dal (United) Shivanand Tiwari batted for him, attacking the BJP instead.

Even as former BJP president Bangaru Laxman resigned from the party’s national executive committee, leader of ally Janata Dal (United) Shivanand Tiwari batted for him, attacking the BJP instead.

HT Image

Laxman quit after being sentenced to four years’ imprisonment for taking a R1 lakh bribe a decade ago Laxman, the BJP’s first Dalit president who practically lost his political career to a sting operation where he was seen taking a bribe from undercover journalists, wrote to BJP president Nitin Gadkari: “I have been convicted by a trial court. Though I am not holding any post in the party, I am a member of the national executive.

In order to avoid any embarrassment being caused to the party, I hereby resign from the national executive committee.”

However, Shivanand Tiwari, Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP's Bihar ally Janata Dal (United), batted for Laxman, accusing the BJP of disowning the Dalit leader while it had tolerated others accused of graft.

“The BJP has rushed to distance itself from its former Dalit president though Dileep Singh Judev survived a similar charge. This shows double standards…,” Tiwari told the Hindustan Times.