'Kuldeep Sengar was suspended by UP BJP, expelled by central leadership': State party chief clarifies on action against Unnao rape accused

After several conflicting reports on the expulsion of Unnao rape accused and BJP MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar, the saffron party on Thursday put doubts to rest by officially confirming that it has expelled the Uttar Pradesh legislator from the party.

Earlier, Uttar Pradesh BJP chief Swatantra Dev Singh told reporters in Kanpur that Sengar has been under suspension since 2018. However, later, the state party president told ANI that while Sengar was suspended by the Uttar Pradesh BJP, the central leadership has now expelled him. “The matter falls under the jurisdiction of the central leadership. When I gave the statement in Kanpur, I wasn’t aware of the development,” he said.

Swatantra Dev Singh, Uttar Pradesh BJP President: Central leadership has expelled MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar (Unnao rape accused) from the party. pic.twitter.com/VzWEO4gZaM

— ANI UP/Uttarakhand (@ANINewsUP) August 1, 2019

Later on Thursday, the Uttar Pradesh unit of the party also released a statement in this regard.

The action against the four-time MLA came days after the 19-year-old survivor and her lawyer were critically injured and two of her aunts were killed when the car they were travelling in was hit by a speeding truck in Rae Bareli in Uttar Pradesh.

The BJP was heavily criticised and confronted with repeated questions about its apparent reluctance to remove the lawmaker or take any strong action against him.

When the word about Sengar expulsion was unofficially out, the Congress said the BJP’s action raised doubts over the intentions of the party as it had continued to support its rape-accused MLA for more than two years. “Sengar has been an accused for long and now an attempt to take the victim (survivor) and her family’s life was undertaken. We were questioning the BJP for many days as to why they were supporting their leader. The BJP expelled him from the party in haste, but that should not be considered as their intention. They might still continue supporting their MLA from the sidelines,” party leader PL Punia told reporters in New Delhi.

BJP spokesperson GVL Narasimha Rao, however, said the party will never tolerate people who are accused of such heinous crimes and added that his party was concerned about women’s safety in the country.

“We have taken action against him. There are questions about the security of the victim (survivor)… the party will not tolerate such people. The country has seen that the BJP has never tolerated such people and it will never tolerate them in the future too. However, there is a process in expelling an MLA from the party, which we followed,” Rao said.

The family has alleged that the accident on Sunday was an attempt to eliminate the survivor and the family.

There has been raging public anger following the incident with major political parties coming down hard on the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh.

On Tuesday, the Centre handed the case to the CBI on the recommendation of the Uttar Pradesh government.

The CBI has booked 10 people for murder, including Sengar, who is already in jail on charges of raping the Unnao teenager when she was a minor in 2017. Sengar, who represents Bangermau in the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, was arrested on 13 April, 2018, in connection with the rape case.

The Supreme Court earlier on Thursday  also ordered the CBI to carry out the probe in the accident involving the survivor and her lawyer within seven days and also transferred cases related to the rape of the girl from Uttar Pradesh to Delhi.

With inputs from PTI