New Delhi: BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi, known as a disciplined soldier of the party, said that former JD(U) leader Sabir Ali had referred to “Bhatkal as a nationalist, not a terrorist”.
“Who knows how Sabir Ali was inducted. No one knows whether he came through the front door or the back door,” Mr Naqvi said, adding that he felt BJP president Rajnath Singh “might not have been aware of the decision to induct Sabir Ali”. For him, the induction of Sabir Ali “goes against the BJP’s fight against terrorism”.
Interestingly, no top BJP leader was present at the party headquarters on Friday during the induction of Sabir Ali. Only J.P Nadda, Dharmendra Pradhan and Sudhanshu Trivedi presided at the induction ceremony.
Besides Mr Naqvi, some other party leaders also raised questions over the chequerd past of Sabir Ali, who was a co-accused in the Gulshan Kumar murder case but was later acquitted. Another senior party leader from Bihar, said “in its mad frenzy to capture power, the BJP is clutching at all possible straws, even if they are rotten”.
Sabir Ali, who was a JD(U) Rajya Sabha MP, turned against that party as he was denied renomination, sources said. He was expelled from the JD(U) after he criticised Nitish Kumar and praised Mr Modi.
