Rita Bahuguna Joshi claimed Jitendra Singh Bablu might have hidden facts from BJP leaders.
A controversy erupted over the induction of former BSP MLA Jitendra Singh Bablu into the BJP on Wednesday, with party MP Rita Bahuguna Joshi alleging that he was involved in the torching of her house in July 2009 and demanding the cancellation of his membership.
Besides Mr Bablu, some other leaders of the BSP and the Congress also joined the BJP at the party headquarters in Lucknow in the presence of state unit president Swatantra Dev Singh.
Expressing shock at the development, Ms Joshi, who is the sitting BJP MP from Allahabad, claimed that Mr Bablu might have hidden the facts from the party leaders.
"In July 2009, when my house was set ablaze in Lucknow, he (Bablu) was in the forefront and he was found guilty during investigations," Ms Joshi, who was in the Congress at that time, claimed.
"I believe that he has kept the party in the dark and joined the party. The doors of the BJP are open to all and I have full faith that the state unit president was not aware of his criminal background and that he is an accused in the housing burning case," Ms Joshi said.
"I will talk to the state and central unit president of the party in this matter and appeal to them to end his membership," she said.
Ms Joshi's house in Lucknow was set afire in 2009, when Mayawati was the chief minister of the state, by alleged BSP supporters protesting over derogatory remarks against their party chief.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)