BJP puts Kushwaha membership on hold

The BJP on Sunday accepted former Uttar Pradesh family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha's offer to put his party membership under suspension till he proves his "innocence". HT reports. BJP tries to find a face- saver | Kushwaha asks BJP to suspend membership | Kushwaha offers to stay out of BJP

The BJP on Sunday accepted former Uttar Pradesh family welfare minister Babu Singh Kushwaha's offer to put his party membership under suspension till he proves his "innocence".

The party said on Sunday that BJP president Nitin Gadkari had accepted Kushwaha's offer, made following the controversy surrounding his induction.

"Kushwaha-ji wrote to the party president asking him to suspend his membership until he is proven innocent; the president has accepted it," said BJP spokesperson Shahnawaz Hussain.

Kushwaha, once a backroom boy of Mayawati, was accused in the National Rural Health Mission scam in the state and was sacked.

He was inducted in the BJP days back as an OBC face amid protests from leaders within the party on the ground that his induction would damage the credibility of the BJP's anti-corruption campaign.

Four-time MP Yogi Adityanath threatened to quit and Maneka Gandhi openly protested, while LK Advani and Sushma Swaraj were also believed to have made their displeasure clear at party fora.

But, Gadkari and some others are of the view that figures like Kushwaha will help the party add OBC votes to its upper caste base, particularly when the 4.5 % minorities quota taken out of the OBC pie provides space for OBC mobilisation.