If you have a past, you might have a future in the BJP, as the party's recent open-door policy to rehabilitate tainted BSP leaders seems to indicate.
BSP MLA from Naraini Purushottam Naresh Dwivedi, who is in jail for allegedly raping a minor, appealed to the BJP to induct him in the party.
"Take me as well so that my sins can be washed off," he told reporters in Banda on Saturday while making the overture to the BJP. Dwivedi, who had come for a court hearing, was responding to BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi's comment that the party was like the Ganga, purifying even those canals that poured into it.
Earlier in the day, BJP leader Vinay Katiyar defended sacked BSP minister Babu Singh Kushwaha's recent induction. Kushwaha is under the CBI scanner in the National Rural Health Mission scam.
The party has also inducted Badshah Singh, the former BSP minister, who was sacked after the lokayukta indicted him on charges of land grabbing in Mahoba, where he is now eyeing a BJP ticket.
Despite the revolt in the party's state unit over Kushwaha's induction, Katiyar, felt there was nothing wrong in the move. "We aren't defending Kushwaha. He has been allowed to join so he can expose those behind the massive scams under the BSP rule." Katiyar added, "When Kushwaha was inducted, there was no case against him."
{{/usCountry}}Despite the revolt in the party's state unit over Kushwaha's induction, Katiyar, felt there was nothing wrong in the move. "We aren't defending Kushwaha. He has been allowed to join so he can expose those behind the massive scams under the BSP rule." Katiyar added, "When Kushwaha was inducted, there was no case against him."
{{/usCountry}}The BJP's official line is Kushwaha would be 'used' by the party to expose the BSP.
The BJP's line of action in UP is not in accordance with the RSS line. The New Year issue of RSS mouthpiece Panchjanya had denounced party hoppers and called for the ouster of criminals from politics.