LUCKNOW: As outrage spread over the road accident that critically injured the Unnao rape survivor, the BJP expelled Bangermau MLA Kuldeep Sengar who is accused of sexually assaulting the woman at his residence in 2017.
Sengar is known to be an influential MLA, having won four elections in Uttar Pradesh. BJP MP Sakshi Maharaj had reportedly met Sengar in jail after the Lok Sabha elections.
Earlier in the day, there was confusion over the fate of Sengar after Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh said in Lucknow that Sengar was not sacked from the party.
Later, BJP working president J P Nadda is said to have contacted Singh and informed him of the party’s decision to suspend Sengar.
The BJP acted against the controversial legislator, who is facing a CBI probe after the Supreme Court on Thursday shifted the Unnao cases to the national capital.
The BJP action was preceded by Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra’s barrage of tweets, attacking the saffron outfit for alleged patronage of the MLA.
She accused the BJP of empowering a criminal.
In one of her tweets, Priyanka called upon Prime Minister Narendra Modi to sack Sengar. Public anger has been raising against the Yogi Adityanath-led government for the slow progress in the case.
With the Congress and the opposition parties launching an attack on the BJP for inaction against Sengar, the expulsion is seen as a delayed reaction on the part of the saffron outfit.
The Opposition has been raising the trauma of the Unnao rape survivor and the road accident.
Incidentally, Modi, in an address to the BJP Parliamentary party meeting, had said that there would be a zero-tolerance against party leaders who tarnish the image of the ruling party.