Bhubaneswar, June 20: Ruffled by the statement made by a defence witness in the Graham Staines triple murder case that Dara Singh, prime accused in the case, was a BJP worker, the BJP in Orissa today denied the claim. Dara was never a member of the party, the BJP state chief Manmohan Samal said here. Defence witness Hrusikesh Barik, who claimed in the court that he was the president of the BJP at Machhagarh Panchayat in Keonjhar district, had said that Dara was a strong worker of the party. Barik had also claimed that Dara was present in his village on the night of January 22, 1999 and not at Manoharpur where the Australian missionary and his two minor sons were burnt to death. Samal, however, said that his party was always opposed to illegal religious conversions which was a well established fact. Such conversions were taking place in tribal and backward areas, he claimed. Several defence witnesses had alleged in the court that Staines tried to convert people by offering money. Meanwhile a BJP legislator, Nibedita Pradhan and an Independent MLA, Bidhubhshan Praharaj told a local television channel here that they had doubts about Dara's involvement in the crime. Both, however, said they were opposed to illegal conversions. If Dara was opposed to conversions it is okay but no one will support violence to stop such acts, Pradhan said. Asked to react to the comments of the two MLAs, the BJP president said as far as the Dara issue is concerned, what they say is their personal view. Bureau Report