It was a call the new BJP member, Rajya Sabha MP, DP Yadav, dreaded to make this morning, as he knew what the outcome would be — party president Venkaiah Naidu finally admitted to Yadav there was a problem with his entry into the BJP and that his membership was going to be revoked by the party.By 11 am, TV channels were beaming Naidu’s embarrassed message while Yadav laconically surfed the channels.But soon the Godfather of Ghaziabad, as he is known, projects pragmatism, when he declares: ‘‘This is all part of the political game and rajniti (politics). I was anyway independent and have my party and supporters in five states. We will soon decide our strategy after the national executive members meet in the next few days.’’In fact, if anyone feared Yadav’s wrath — he has been accused of bootlegging, murder and extortion — then he was not going to add grist to the mill. While his supporters say the only cases against him were when he was a student leader in MMH Degree College, Ghaziabad, Yadav is a picture of studied humility when he says: ‘‘If the BJP had a problem with me, I was not going to make it worse for it. I told Venkaiahji, I was willing to make the sacrifice.’’Neither was he willing to blame the party leadership for his ouster. ‘‘I am not angry, humiliated or upset. I am feeling fine. I met Venkaiah and Pramod Mahajan 15 days ago, when talks began about my entry into the BJP. Nobody seemed to have any objections then. I blame the media which raised all these baseless allegations because no one cared to talk to me. There is not a single case against me and I can give an affidavit declaring it.’’But his discomfiture is apparent when he meets partymen and visitors in the garden. Yadav is determined to show it is yet another day, and after a hurried lunch, he heads for Railway HQ, to chair a meeting of the All-India OBC Railway Employees Federation. As two-time president of the federation, Yadav listens to the two-dozen members, complain the OBCs have not got their due from Nitish Kumar. ‘‘You can leave Delhi confident that everything will be okay,’’ he says to applause.After the meeting, Yadav returns home before attending another function in Ghaziabad. Will he contest the election from Sambhal, UP, again, where he had contested in 1998, against his former leader Mulayam Singh Yadav? ‘‘It is too early to say anything,’’ he says, adding, ‘‘there is no question of aligning with the NDA now.’’
