Senior BJP leader and former Rajasthan legislator Gyan Dev Ahuja has been expelled from the party in the aftermath of a row over his act of “re-consecration” of a Ram Temple in Alwar after the entry of Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Tika Ram Jully earlier this month.

The decision to terminate the primary membership (of the party) of the three-time MLA was taken by the ruling BJP’s state president Madan Rathore on the recommendation of the party’s discipline committee, a party spokesman said here on Sunday.

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Earlier, Ahuja visited the party’s state headquarters here in the afternoon and reiterated his stance that he would not tender an apology as he did not commit any misconduct.

About a fortnight ago, the party veteran formally made it clear that he would not apologise. “I am not anti-Dalit, I have committed no wrong, sprinkling the Ganga Jal in the temple was an act of political protest not targeted against any faith, religion of the creed”.

The three-time winner from the Ramgarh (Alwar) seat had said in reply to a show-cause notice served on him by the ruling BJP.

“My act of ‘reconsecration’ by sprinkling ‘Gangaajal’ was against temple visits by leaders of the Congress, who disowned Lord Ram and boycotted the (Ayodhya) Ram Mandir ceremonies. The move was not anti-Dalit as I was opposing LoP Jully as a Congress leader, not as a Dalit.

Everybody in Alwar knows I have always stood by Dalits to safeguard their interests. “Therefore, no question of tendering apology, I neither have (ever) apologised (as I committed no wrong) nor shall I do now”, Ahuja asserted.

The saffron party had suspended Ahuja following a political row over his Ganga Jal sprinkling act and served a show cause notice.

LoP Jully, who belongs to a Dalit caste, had visited the Ram Temple to pay obeisance to the deity during a Ram Navmi function on Sunday. This didn’t go well with ex-legislator Ahuja. He expressed his displeasure with the organisers of the function saying, “They had invited those (people) who did not accept the existence of Lord Ram… Who had boycotted Ram Mandir.”

“This,” he said, “has deconsecrated the temple, therefore, I shall give a Ganga-Jal wash to the temple for its re-consecration”.

The act (of re-consecration) evoked a sharp reaction from the principal Opposition party and its leadership in the state as well as at the national level.

The issue echoed even at the sessions of the extended Congress working committee at Ahmedabad earlier this month.