Chinmayanand not a member of the party anymore: BJP

Almost a month after he was accused of raping a law student, an embarrassed BJP on Wednesday said that ex-union minister Swami Chinmayanand was not a member of the party.

''Chinmayanand is not a member of BJP,'' said UP BJP spokesman Harish Chandra Srivastava here. He, however, could not state, when the seer had left the party.

Earlier also the saffron party had been left red faced, when it claimed that it had expelled rape accused party MLA Kuldeep Singh Senger but could not state, when was the action taken against him.

Another senior state BJP leader said here that Chinmayanand had nothing to do with the party. ''It is not proper to link the party with his (seer) conduct,'' the leader said.

According to the sources, however, several saffron party leaders, including at least two sitting legislators, had met Chinmayanand in Shahajahanpur district jail, where he was sent after being remanded to judicial custody.

A few saffron leaders had also lent support to the seer and termed the allegations against him as ''politically motivated''.

Chinmayanand was the minister of state for home affairs in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government between 1999-2004. He has been a three time BJP MP from Jaunpur Lok Sabha seat in UP.

Incidentally in 2011 also, a disciple of his had accused him of ''abduction'' and ''rape''. The Yogi Adityanath government had, however, tried to withdraw the case lodged with Shahajahanpur police but the district court rejected the same.