Shaheen Bagh shooter Kapil Gurjar expelled from BJP shortly after induction

Lucknow, Dec 30: The BJP on Wednesday admitted into its fold a man who had allegedly opened fire in the air early this year at an anti-CAA protest site in South East Delhi's Shaheen Bagh but cancelled his party membership hours later.

The membership of Kapil Gujjar was cancelled as soon as senior party leaders came to know of his induction into the party, UP BJP's general secretary J P S Rathore told PTI.

"Local leaders had processed the induction. However, as soon as the state leadership got information about it, his membership was cancelled," said Rathore when asked about Gujjar's entry into the BJP.

Meanwhile, the AAP and the BJP sparred over alleged Shaheen Bagh shooter Kapil Gujjar joining the saffron party.

Gujjar on Wednesday joined the BJP but soon after his induction his membership was cancelled by the party.

"Please note @BJP4India has zero tolerance towards corruption and any nuisance, identity of this person was not in the knowledge of @BJP4UP ''s Ghaziabad unit..now action taken by @swatantrabjp Ji and joining of Kapil Gujjar stands cancelled! @BJP4Delhi @ManojTiwariMP @adeshguptabjp," BJP leader Neelakant Bakshi tweeted.

The AAP hit out at the saffron party for inducting Gujjar, saying this exposed the BJP''s plan of starting riots in the national capital.

Addressing a press conference, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, "Kapil Gujjar who opened fire at Shaheen Bagh protesters joined the BJP and exposed BJP''s plan of riots in Delhi."

He further claimed that right from the script to the characters, everything was part of the BJP''s plan to spread hatred.

"Seventy-two hours before the (Delhi) election, Delhi Police alleged that Kapil was associated with the AAP, and BJP chief JP Nadda said that he is a terrorist. Today the same BJP is welcoming this person," Bhardwaj said.

"Today on behalf of the Aam Aadmi Party I want to ask the BJP that why a terrorist is joining their party," he said.

In a statement, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said, "We said on the day Kapil Gujjar fired shots at Shaheen Bagh that he is a Aam Aadmi Party supporter and today again we reiterate that he is an AAP supporter."

"Kapil Gurjar and his AAP leader Sanjay Singh wanted to create a political sensation but they knew it was impossible to manage his induction in Delhi BJP so they silently made him join BJP in Ghaziabad and thereafter created a media drama over it," he claimed.

Ghaziabad BJP instantly cancelled the membership of Gujjar, he added.

In February this year, Gujjar had fired twice in the air at Shaheen Bagh where a protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) was underway.

Shaheen Bagh became the epicentre of the protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) as women with young children staged a sit-in protest there for over three months.

The Shaheen Bagh protest was called off in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

Communal violence had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24 after citizenship law supporters and protesters clashed with each other in the area, leaving 53 people dead.