BJP U-turn: Neera had never joined

After a great deal of embarrassment,lasting for over a week,the BJP on Saturday said the controversial Neera Yadav had....

After a great deal of embarrassment,lasting for over a week,the BJP on Saturday said the controversial Neera Yadav had never joined the party. Uttar Pradesh BJP president Ramapati Ram Tripathi,widely known as a confidant of party president Rajnath Singh,told The Sunday Express: She had requested that she be taken into the BJP. Her request was under consideration,but she never joined the party.

Neera was voted as the second-most corrupt officer by the UP IAS association in 1994,and her induction into the BJP at a function at Ghaziabad,in the presence of party president Rajnath Singh late last month,had left the party stunned. As reported by this paper on March 31 not one spokesperson was ready to back the move.

L K Advanis political adviser Sudheendra Kulkarni on Saturday admitted as much when he said the party was embarrassed over Neeras induction into the party and that many leaders were unhappy over the issue. Party general secretary Arun Jaitley,too,was said to be miffed over the latest induction into the party.

Rajnaths camp had all this while argued that while the party had given its go-ahead to the re-induction of Mahendra Singh Yadav a three-time former BJP MLA,Neera who is Mahendra Singh Yadavs wife along with a group of her supporters had gate-crashed. Mahendra Singh Yadav,while strongly contesting the allegation of corruption against his wife,had told this paper that the husband-wife duo had been admitted into the BJP on the occasion.

It was being speculated that Neera a Tyagi married to a Yadav had been drafted into the party with an eye on Tyagi voters in Ghaziabad. Sources said while Rajnath has always been known for his clean image, the move to induct Neera into the party had come as nothing less than a shock.

Neera was unavailable for comments on the partys U-turn on the issue. Mahendra Singh Yadav,however,told The Sunday Express on Saturday: What can we say when the party is taking a stand? But those who are raising questions over Neeras rights to be part of a political party are being undemocratic and immoral. Interestingly,after the controversial D P Yadav alleged to have criminal antecedents was inducted into the BJP in 2004,he was eased out of the party in almost a similar fashion.