Ashok Sahu faces expulsion after questioning Modi wave in Odisha
Four days after the Kandhamal by-elections results, the BJP on Thursday suspended its vice-president on the charge of indiscipline.
Ashok Sahu is facing expulsion if the notice served on him the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is anything to go by.
Four days after the Kandhamal by-elections results, the BJP on Thursday suspended its vice-president on the charge of indiscipline. "Ashok Sahu has been suspended from the party by state President K.V. Singhdeo. Sahu has also been served a show-cause notice asking as to why he will not be expelled from the party," BJP spokesman Samir Mohanty told reporters. Sahu has breached discipline by airing his remarks in the media and Twitter posts, Mohanty said, adding that the party has sought reply from him within seven days.
Sahu said he would take the matter to the central leadership and questioned the party state president Singhdeo's style of functioning. "He (Singhdeo) may be a member of the Balangir royal family, but I am not his servant. KV is a leader of weak personality," Sahu alleged.
Sahu, who had unsuccessfully contested as a BJP candidate from Kandhamal Lok Sabha seat in 2009, was willing to contest from the same seat where by-election was held on October 15. He was, however, denied a ticket and the BJP fielded former party MP Rudra Madhav Ray in Kandhamal who too lost the polls. Immediately after the bypoll results were announced, Sahu raised question as to why the Modi magic was not working in Odisha. "The party should introspect about that," Sahu has written on the social network.
In 2009, Sahu had been jailed in a hate-speech case. He had allegedly delivere a hate speech at an election rally at Raikia where he blamed Christians for killing VHP leader Laxmananda Saraswati.