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A fresh controversy erupted in the Bharatiya Janata Party(BJP) with party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi making an angry outburst against induction of expelled Janata Dal (United) leader Sabir Ali, whom he called a "friend" of terrorist Yasin Bhatkal. He mocked that Dawood Ibrahim could be the next entrant.
Naqvi, a Muslim face and vice-president of the party, termed Ali's entry into BJP a "mistake" and demanded its reversal.
BJP spokesperson Sudhanshu Trivedi said the induction was done on the recommendation of the Bihar unit of the party and "further action" in the matter will be taken after "verifying all facts and antecedents" of Ali.
"Terrorist Bhatkal friend joins BJP...soon accepting Dawood...," Naqvi tweeted, hours after Ali was inducted into the party with much fanfare, as it was seen as a boost to the BJP's attempts to attract Muslims.
"Whatever has happened today (Friday), I am pained and have already expressed my anguish to the party. Somewhere, there has been a mistake committed by the party and it needs to correct that by reversing the decision," Naqvi said later.
The new row comes days after the one over induction of Sri Ram Sene chief Pramod Muthalik in Karnataka. The entry was scrapped within hours after strong criticism from both within and outside the party as Muthalik had been involved in attack on women in pubs few years back.
Naqvi said the party has been fighting against terrorism and has been touting as being "different", how can it justify the entry of someone who has links with terrorists.
He alleged Bhatkal was arrested from Ali's Mumbai residence some time ago.
