Bengaluru: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday slammed athlete Anju Bobby George for allegedly changing her stand on joining the party.
Speaking to a news agency, Karnataka BJP media convener S Shantaram said, "She (George) came on stage, took the party flag and our state President B S Yeddyurappa announced that she joined BJP. Don't know why she changed her stand. Doesn't she know the meaning of taking flag on stage from the president?"
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on July 6 launched the BJP membership drive from his parliamentary constituency Varanasi.
BJP had launched the membership drive with an aim to increase the number of its members by 20 per cent.
However, the Arjuna awardee has reportedly denied joining the party.
Earlier on June 7, Union Minister for State for External Affairs V. Murlaeedharan also dismissed media reports which claimed that the former Kerala track-and-field star had joined the saffron party.
Speaking to the media, Muraleedharan said there was nothing political about the meeting which took place on June 6.
“I have had a long association with Anju and her husband Robert Bobby George. Yesterday, I had a party programme in Bengaluru. She called me and asked if we could meet to which I agreed. When she came to the programme in which I was taking part, the event was about to begin. So I invited her to the dais, as she is an internationally acclaimed athlete,” said Muraleedharan, the only leader from Kerala in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet.
“As the meeting was going on, we talked and not a word of politics was spoken. She was talking about her institute,” he added.
Former long jumper George (42) hails from Kottayam in Kerala and is presently employed with the Customs in Bengaluru.
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