NEW DELHI, 20 February 2004 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee’s party yesterday booted out a controversial politician whose decision to sign up with the ruling Hindu fundamentalists stirred a hornet’s nest in party ranks, an official said.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) withdrew the membership it had given with fanfare last Friday to D.P. Yadav, a member of Parliament’s upper house, after protests that his alleged nexus with the underworld could bury the party’s electoral hopes in a crucial state ahead of polls in April-May.

“The decision was taken in consultation with Vajpayee and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani,” said BJP President Venkaiah Naidu as other party leaders launched an intense damage-control exercise to defend the decision to recruit Yadav in the first place.

“One individual’s entry into the party or his personality will not change the character of the party,” Parliamentary Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj argued after Yadav was shown the door.

The BJP had been wooing Yadav to join its ranks in a bid to help build up the influence of the Hindu fundamentalists in Uttar Pradesh state, which returns 85 MPs to Parliament’s 545-seat elected lower house.

Political foes of Yadav in Uttar Pradesh, where the BJP is in the opposition, say the politician with the help of a formidable private army reigns as the “uncrowned king” over the northern Indian state’s sugar-rich but lawless western region.

The BJP in the runup to national elections, expected to be held by end of April, is on a drive to rope in celebrities, Muslim politicians and industrialists in a bid to improve both its political clout and replace its rightwing ideological profile with a secular image.

Yadav, whose son Vikas faces a first-degree murder charge, recently received a 67-percent thumbs down in a newspaper opinion poll on his recruitment into the national party, which came to power in 1998 and now hopes to return to power in Parliament as well as in state legislatures.

Both the BJP and its political rival the main opposition Congress party have several polticians in their ranks facing criminal cases despite a law that bans convicted individuals from contesting elections to public office.

Yadav, who contests as an independent candidate from the Uttar Pradesh constituency of Sambhal, was defiant after he was jettisoned. “I am a public figure and will remain in public life. It is for the people to decide,” he said.

Neelam Katara, mother of Nitish, who was allegedly killed last year by Yadav’s son, meanwhile welcomed the BJP’s surprise U-turn. “By accepting its mistake ... a national party like BJP has earned the people’s respect,” said the gutsy woman, fighting for justice for her son’s murder.

Meanwhile, in yet another major setback to the Congress, Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairperson and a veteran party leader, Najma Heptulla hinted she might join the BJP soon, and accused her party President Sonia Gandhi of humiliating senior party leaders.

Coming out openly against Gandhi, Heptulla said: ‘’The problem is not with the party (Congress) but with the party leadership. The present Congress leadership has moved away from the ideology of Nehru, Azad, Patel and Gandhi. This is not a leadership I can respect.’’

Going a step further, Heptulla accused Gandhi of humiliating her. ‘’I am sorry to say that it seems there is no respect left for senior leaders and for party workers in the Congress,’’ she said, adding: “I have been subjected to all kinds of humiliation over these last few years.’’ She recalled that when she was elected chairperson of the International Parliamentarians Union, Gandhi did not even bother to call on her or congratulate her.

Asked whether she was preparing the ground to join the BJP, Heptulla said she had not yet taken a decision nor had she been approached by the BJP. ‘’I am happy with what I have for now. I am not hankering after anything. This is not about any position or Rajya Sabha seat, but about my dignity and self-respect.’’

She, however, hinted at her future course of action, praising Prime Minister Vajpayee’s leadership. ‘’He is the good man, someone who only thinks about the nation. He is a leader you can trust. The Congress leadership has lost that respect,’’ Heptulla said.