Another BJP leader slams party functioning

New Delhi, Mar 19 (UNI) Another Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader has come out against the party's functioning saying it was straying from ideology and shielding corrupt politicians.

Senior BJP leader Sangh Priya Gautam said the party was losing its image as a ''party with a difference'' after a series of dubious decisions.

Mr Gautam, who has decided to join the March 21 rally of firebrand leader Uma Bharti at the Ramlila grounds here, also criticised the national integration yatra of party veteran L K Advani.

Terming the yatra as a ''contradiction'', he said it would not carry much conviction after his controversial comments on Pakistan's founder Mohammad Ali Jinnah.

''There is a contradiction in Mr Advani's approach,'' he said.

Mr Gautam also flayed the party's stance on the expulsion of the ten MPs after they were found taking money for asking questions in Parliament.

''The party tried to defend the MPs and its own five MPs involved in the scam were not expelled from the party,'' he said and added that the party was protecting corrupt politicians.

By not adhering to its ideology and probity in public life, the BJP is losing its image, Mr Gautam added.

He also urged party president Rajnath Singh to take part in Ms Uma Bharti's rally and said the party needed leaders like her who has a mass support base.

Ms Bharti had written a letter to Mr Gautam inviting him to attend her rally.

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