Sabir Ali (Left) joined the BJP earlier today
In a seething tweet, BJP leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi has attacked both his party and its newest recruit, Sabir Ali from Bihar. Mr Naqvi did not name Mr Ali, but posted, "Terrorist Bhatakal friend join BJP...soon accepting dawood........". The tweet linked Mr Ali to Yasin Bhatkal, the alleged chief of terror group Indian Mujahideen, who was arrested in August last year.
The Mujahideen, according to investigators, were behind October's bomb blasts in Patna at the venue of a rally for the BJP's prime ministerial candidate
Narendra Modi. Six people were killed and nearly 80 injured.
Mr Ali, 58, was recently expelled from the Janata Dal (United) or JD(U) by Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.
Mr Naqvi's tweet is the latest installment of dissent within the BJP over its new inductees. "Everyone knows his background... it is public record. I'm asking for the party to correct an error," he said to reporters.
BJP spokesman Sudhanshu Trivedi said the induction was done on the recommendation of Bihar unit of the party and "further action" in the matter will be taken after "verifying all facts and antecedents" of Mr Ali.
Mr Ali engineered his expulsion from the Janata Dal (United) when he publicly praised Mr Modi, who tenants a long-running feud with the Bihar chief minister. Mr Ali was upset because he was among three other MPs who were not re-nominated by the party to the Rajya Sabha; their term expires next month. (
Read: Nitish Kumar's partyman, expelled for praising Narendra Modi, joins BJP)
Recently, senior BJP leader Sushma Swaraj unsuccessfully fought the party's plan to induct B Sriramulu, a state legislator in Karnataka linked to illegal mining and corruption.