Rashid Alvi, leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party Parliamentary Party in the dissolved Lok Sabha, was on Tuesday expelled from the party shortly after he criticized his leader Mayawati.
"Mayawati is working under the influence of the Bharatiya Janata Party, possibly because of the CBI cases against her or some other issue," Alvi said. He accused the BSP chief of taking money while allotting tickets to candidates for the Lok Sabha elections.
"The Amroha (his constituency) ticket was given away for Rs one crore to an apolitical person," he alleged before mediapersons in Delhi.
Alvi accused Mayawati of deviating from the party ideology and trying to create confusion. On the one hand the party was striving for an alliance with the Congress while on the other, Mayawati recently said in Patna, Bihar that the Congress should be kept out of power.
Mayawati reacted swiftly.
"Alvi has been expelled from the party for his wrong and irresponsible statements against Mayawati," BSP general secretary S C Mishra told reporters in Lucknow.
In Delhi, Alvi said Mayawati could not 'tolerate the truth'. He will consult his supporters before announcing his future course of action.
He disclosed that senior BJP leaders, including Union Health Minister Sushma Swaraj, did approach him but ruled out any truck with the party saying the saffron outfit is a 'communal organisation and creates tension in the country, especially after the Gujarat riots'.
"I will work to strengthen the secular forces" but was non-committal on whether he would join the Congress or the Samajwadi Party.