Arms loot accused becomes BJP member in UP

The pressure to fulfill the membership target, it seems, is affecting the BJP leaders so much that they do not bother to even check if the new entrant into the party is a hardened criminal.

A prime accused in looting of arms and torching a police station in Uttar Pradesh's Deoria district, about 325 kilometres from here, became the member of the saffron party on Sunday.

The accused, identified as Mohammed Imran, was admitted to the party by UP minister of state Jai Prakash Nishad at a function in the district, according to the sources.

Imran was allegedly part of the violent mob, who were arrested on charges of torching Madnpur police station and looting the arms from there in 2017. He was arrested and released on bail a few days back.

The mob had attacked the police station after recovery of the body of a youth from the Rapti river near Madanpur village. The looted arms were yet to be recovered, sources said.

The matter came to light after pictures of Imran sharing stage with Nishad went viral on the social networking sites.

At a loss for the words to justify Imran's inclusion into the party fold, the minister said that he (Imran) had expressed desire to join the BJP and so he was made a member.

Senior BJP leaders here, however, said that the matter would be looked into. ''It will be a huge embarrassment if such a person becomes member of the BJP,'' said a senior leader here.

Barely a few days back a BJP lawmaker, apparently under a similar pressure, allegedly 'forced' scores of minor students to become members of the saffron party in Chandauli district, about 300 kilometres from here.

BJP legislator Sushil Singh, who was considered to be a 'muscleman' in the area, had barged into a high school in Sayyadraja area in the district while the classes were going on there and got the students of 10th and 12th standards to fill the BJP membership forms. BJP had launched its nationwide membership drive on July 6.