BJP gives D P Yadav the boot

<div class="section1"><div class="Normal"><script language="javascript">doweshowbellyad=0; </script><br />NEW DELHI: This one was too hot to handle. After a few days of <a href="/articleshow/515039.cms">confused signals and much flak</a>, the BJP has given history-sheeter D P Yadav the boot.<br /></div> <div align="left" style="position:relative; left: -2"><table cellspacing="0" cellpadding="2" align="left" border="1" width="23.6%"> <colgroup> <col width="100.0%" /> </colgroup> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><img src="/photo/516923.cms" alt="/photo/516923.cms" border="0" /></div> </td> </tr> <tr valign="top"> <td width="100.0%" colspan="1" rowspan="1" style="" valign:="" top="" background-color:="" f3f3f3=""> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="">D P Yadav</span></div> </td> </tr> </table></div> <div class="Normal"><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">On Tuesday, as more <a href="/articleshow/505706.cms">celebrities</a> was added to the growing BJP list of leaders, party President Venkaiah Naidu announced that the membership of D P Yadav was being withdrawn.He said he had discussed the matter with Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani on Monday night. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Naidu said that he also spoke to D P Yadav on Tuesday morning. And that Yadav told him that he did not want the party to "suffer because of me". "We discussed this and decided, after hearing his version, that his membership would be withdrawn," Naidu announced.</span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold="">Yadav -- who has over 25 criminal cases against him, including those of murder, and whose son Vikas is the main accused in the Nitish Katara case -- was not the only one who took the high moral ground. The BJP began damage control immediately, with party spokesmen Muqtar Abbas Naqvi and Prakash Javedekar explaining the U-turn. </span><br /><br /><span style="" font-size:="" font-weight:="" bold=""><formid=367815></formid=367815></span><br /></div> </div><div class="section2"><div class="Normal"><br />"The BJP has a different image from all other parties and while it does not matter who joins other parties, it is important when it is the BJP," said Javedekar. Naqvi elaborated: "Our party leaders have always had a clean image and an individual''s image cannot be allowed to spoil the party''s image."<br /><br /><a href="/articleshow/509432.cms">Yadav had been inducted into the BJP with much fanfare</a> only last Friday by Venkaiah Naidu. But the hue and cry since resulted in all top leaders distancing themselves from the decision to take him in. Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani were at pains to wash their hands of the entire affair, with indications that they may not have known of the decision to sign him up.<br /><br />So how did a notorious history-sheeter get picked by the BJP? Naqvi said it was not always possible for so big a party to check the antecedents of so many people from all walks of life joining it. But he denied that senior leaders had not known about Yadav''s induction: "Such decisions are always taken collectively." <br /><br />A bewildered D P Yadav, meanwhile, bowed to better wisdom and accepted the BJP decision without rancour. <br /><br />"It was their decision to ask me to join, it is theirs to withdraw the offer. I don''t come into it," Yadav told a television channel after being thrown out. But he steadfastly denied he had any charges against him, saying the next course of action would be decided in consultation with his supporters.<br /><br /><formid=367815></formid=367815></div> </div>