BHOPAL: Jitu Yadav, a corporator and mayor-in-council (MiC) member of the Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC), was expelled by the ruling BJP’s Madhya Pradesh unit for six years on Saturday over the recent attack by his aides on the house of fellow party corporator Kamlesh Kalra.
The action by the ruling party’s state unit came a week after armed men associated with Yadav had barged into Kalra's house in Indore, vandalising property and misbehaving with his family.
The state BJP’s general secretary (organization) and Bhopal South Central MLA Bhagwandas Sabnani wrote to Indore city BJP unit Gaurav Randive on Saturday, informing about the expulsion of Ward No. 24 corporator Jitendra Kumar aka Jitu Yadav from the party.
Confirming the action, state BJP president VD Sharma said in Bhopal on Saturday evening, “No one will be spared for such acts, whosoever it may be and at whichever level that person may be, the party will definitely take disciplinary action in any such matter. As per the information with me, he (Yadav) has also been removed from the IMC mayor-in-council following his resignation from that body.”
The party had a few days back issued notices to both corporators seeking an explanation from them about the recent incidents in Indore, which caused grave embarrassment to the party.
According to key BJP insiders in Bhopal, Yadav’s expulsion from the party for six years took place after the matter came under the scanner of the party’s top leadership in Delhi.
On January 4, a mob of armed men barged into the house of corporator Kamlesh Kalra in western Indore. Once in the house, the men claiming to be Jitu Yadav’s supporters stripped Kalra’s teenage son, slapped Kalra’s wife and even threatened to strip her, all in front of Kalra’s 78-year-old mother. The armed men also vandalised property inside the house and filmed their entire act, which went viral.
Though Yadav denied any links with the incident and instead blamed Kalra for hurting the sentiments of Yadavs and scheduled castes by misbehaving with an IMC employee Yatin Yadav, an audio clip of the telephonic conversation between the two corporators (while the attack was happening) also went viral. In the clip, Yadav was heard using abusive and threatening language against Kalra, even though the latter apologised for his conduct with the IMC employee.
The incident had triggered widespread protests in Indore, particularly by the Sindhi community to which Kalra belongs.
Among the two corporators, while Jitu Yadav is considered a loyalist of four-time BJP MLA from Indore-2 seat Ramesh Mendola (who is seen as MP cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya’s man), the other corporator Kamlesh Yadav is seen as the loyalist of four-time Indore-4 MLA and ex-Indore mayor Malini Gaur.
Just a day after the attack by Yadav’s men inside Kalra’s house, the Indore-4 MLA Malini Gaur had met the CM Dr Mohan Yadav in Indore along with Kalra and his family over the incident. Jitu Yadav too had met with the CM (who is also Indore’s guardian minister) over the same issue.
So far, ten men have been arrested in connection with the January 3 incident. A case was registered on Kalra’s complaint under multiple IPC Sections, besides the provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO 2012).
The Indore police commissioner Santosh Singh has constituted a special investigation team (SIT) headed by additional DCP Anand Yadav to probe the matter.
