The Bharatiya Janata Party on Friday expelled its Rajasthan unit spokesperson Krishna Kumar Janu after he allegedly questioned the party’s stand against former Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik and former Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar.
The party, however, cited Janu’s comments made in June opposing the appointment of Harshini Kulhari as its Jhunjhunu district president as the reason for his expulsion.
In a statement, BJP state disciplinary committee chairperson Onkar Singh Lakhawat said Janu failed to justify his actions in response to a show-cause notice issued on June 20.
"He failed to justify his actions, and the committee decided to expel him for six years," he said.
Janu had recently trained his guns at the Jat leaders in the BJP for their “humiliating treatment” of Malik and Dhankhar—both of whom are Jats. A video of his comments has gone viral on social platforms.
In the video, Janu could be heard saying he was deeply hurt on seeing the government’s “tiraskar” towards Malik, who passed away last week and that he wants the Jat leaders in the party to raise questions.
Malik had stirred up a controversy after he alleged that he was offered a bribe to clear files of two major projects in Jammu and Kashmir and questioned the BJP-led central government over issues related to farmers and the Pulwama terror attack, among others.
Janu alleged that the BJP leadership has sidelined senior leaders like L.K. Advani, Murali Manohar Joshi, Yashwant Sinha and Vasundhara Raje. “The party is going in the wrong direction through all this. I don’t understand why the people are quiet,” he could be heard saying in the video.
He also questioned why there was no farewell speech or party for Dhankhar, who submitted his resignation last month, on the first day of the monsoon session of parliament, citing health reasons.
Janu questioned MPs, MLAs, and other office bearers from the community working within the BJP, asking how they could be sure similar treatment would not be meted out to them.