IP Singh said "even speaking truth is a crime in the party which has lost its internal democracy."

Highlights IP Singh has been expelled from the party for 6 years after his comments

He questioned, "Have we elected a pradhan mantri or prachar mantri?"

"Forgive me...could not work as chowkidar with a strap on eyes": Mr Singh

The BJP on Monday expelled one of its senior Lucknow-based leaders after he dubbed the party's top leadership as "Gujarati thugs" and asked if the BJP has chosen a ''pradhan mantri'' (prime minister) or a prachar mantri (advertisement minister).

While attacking the BJP's top leadership in a series of tweets, the party's former spokesperson IP Singh also hailed Samajwadi Party chief Akhilesh Yadav's candidature from Azamgarh and offered him his residence for use as his poll campaign office.

"IP Singh has been expelled from the party for six years on directions of the BJP state president," said a party release.

The expulsion followed after Mr Singh attacked the BJP leadership in a series of tweets from his official Twitter account having a prefix "usuldaar" (principled) to his name.

"I belong to a principled ''kshatriya'' family. Two Gujarati thugs have been befooling Hindi-speaking people for the last five years after capturing the country's Hindi heartland, while we are silent," he said in one of his tweets Friday.

"Our UP is six times bigger than Gujarat with an economy of Rs five lakh crore against Gujarat's Rs one lakh 15 thousand crore," said Mr Singh, adding, in such a situation what would they eat and what development would they cause.

In another tweet, he said, "Have we elected a ''pradhan mantri'' or ''prachar mantri''? Does the country's prime minister look good selling t-shirt and tea cup?"

"The BJP has been a party which made its place in the people's hearts through its ideology. It's impossible to ''produce'' workers with missed calls and T-shirts," he added.

"The people of eastern UP are overjoyed and the youths here are excited after the announcement of Akhilesh Yadav's candidature from Poorvanchal. It heralds an end of the politics of caste and religion," said Mr Singh.

Reacting to his expulsion, Mr Singh tweeted further, "I have come to know from the media friends that I have been expelled from the party for six years."

"I had given my three decades to the party. Even speaking truth is a crime in the party which has lost its internal democracy," he added.

"Forgive me Narendra Modi ji! I could not have work as your chowkidar (watchman) with a strap on my eyes," he added.

Mr Singh had last year reportedly written to BJP president Amit Shah to replace Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh with him as the BJP candidate from Lok Sabha in the 2019 general elections.