'Will the BJP now admit Dawood?': Maharashtra Congress attacks BJP over inducting tainted figures

Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal on Tuesday attacked the BJP, claiming that it was now making just about anyone a member.

Alleging that the party had abandoned all standards, he claimed that "so far, those whom the BJP had previously accused of corruption have not only been inducted into the party with honour, but have even been given ministerial posts".

He spoke of the party welcoming a person who was "earlier alleged to have links with mafia don Dawood Ibrahim".

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"Will the BJP now go so far as to admit Dawood himself?" he questioned.

Reiterating that it was a party's internal matter on their choice of people to induct, he added that "in preaching about Hindutva, the BJP seems to have completely lost sight of what it’s doing".

He further added that BJP MLA Nitesh Rane had earlier made a serious allegation in the legislature that Sudhakar Badgujar from Nashik had hosted a party for Dawood Ibrahim’s henchman Salim Kutta, and had even shown photos of him dancing at the party in the Assembly, demanding action.

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"However, now, the same person has been welcomed simply because he has accepted Hindutva. Does this mean that if Dawood were to accept Hindutva, he too would be welcomed?” he questioned again.

“The BJP brands itself as a ‘Party with a Difference,’ but today it is filled with goons, thugs, and corrupt individuals, truly making it a party with a difference.” 

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He also highlighted how the BJP formed a government alliance with the NCP faction led by former minister Praful Patel, who was linked to property transactions involving Iqbal Mirchi, an accused in the 1993 Mumbai blasts and another close aide of Dawood.

“The BJP has given a clean chit to Praful Patel through their ‘washing machine’. We’ve always said BJP’s Hindutva is fake — and today, once again, that’s evident,” Sapkal claimed.

He also pointed out that even the state president and working president of the BJP were unaware of Sudhakar Badgujar’s induction until the afternoon of the same day.

“Yet they were forced to attend his induction event. This raises a fundamental question: who is really running the BJP?”

India