BJP MP Objects To Induction Of Ex-BSP MLA Into Party, Cites "Criminal Background"

BJP MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi alleged that Jitendra Singh Bablu was involved in the torching of her house in July 2009 and demanded the cancellation of his membership.

A controversy erupted over the induction of former BSP MLA Jitendra Singh Bablu into the BJP on Wednesday, with party MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi alleging that he was involved in the torching of her house in July 2009 and demanding the cancellation of his membership. Besides Mr Bablu, some other leaders of the BSP and the Congress also joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Lucknow in the presence of state unit president Swatantra Dev Singh. Expressing shock at the development, Ms Joshi, who is the sitting BJP MP from Allahabad, claimed that Mr Bablu might have hidden the facts from the party leaders. "In July 2009, when my house was set ablaze in Lucknow, he (Bablu) was in the forefront and he was found guilty during investigations," Ms Joshi, who was in the Congress at that time, claimed.