Dera chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh was found guilty in the 2002 rape case by a special CBI court in Panchkula on Friday afternoon. The result left the Dera followers agitated who went on a rampage in different parts of India. The conviction, however, has left many BJP leaders in Haryana red-faced. According to a report by The Indian Express, as many as 19 of the 47 BJP MLAs including Haryana BJP chief Subhash Barala had gone to pay obeisance to the Dera chief after the poll win in 2014 when the party was voted to power in the state for the first time on its own.

This list included some big names like Krishan Lal Panwar, Krishan Bedi, Nayab Saini and Manish Grover, who are now ministers in the state government while Kanwar Pal Gujjar is Assembly Speaker. After the latest violence that has taken 30 lives so far, these political leaders have been left baffled. “We are not the only ones who go to these Deras. Other political leaders also go. As politicians, we go to meet many people; how do we know that anyone of them would later be proved guilty of wrongdoing? Like Guru Ji said that he would honour the law, others should also respect it. There are options of approaching higher courts. Violence is not the answer to anything. The Dera followers should maintain peace,” Assembly Speaker Gujjar told IE.

Interestingly, some BJP leaders have openly supported the dera chief in last few years. Haryana Health and Sports Minister Anil Vij donated Rs 50 lakh from his discretionary fund to the Dera Sacha Sauda for promoting rural games in 2016. Earlier this month, Haryana Education Minister Ram Bilas Sharma met the Dera chief and announced Rs 51 lakh from his discretionary fund for the Sports Village being developed by the Dera.

Apart from this, ahead of the verdict, Sharma had also said that Section 144 doesn’t apply to the faith. BJP isn’t the only party in India guilty of supporting Ram Rahim. Senior leaders of Congress and the Indian National Lok Dal, too, have visited the Dera seeking its support. But in 2014, the Dera openly announced its support to BJP.