Congress MLA apologises for praising Gujarat CM

Ahmedabad

A Congress MLA from the city, who had praised Gujarat Chief Minister Anandi Patel through advertisements published in local newspapers, today tendered his written apology to party leaders for doing so.

The legislator, Gyasuddin Shaikh, who represents Dariyapur seat of the city, said in a statement that he submitted his written apology to the Gujarat Congress Legislature Party chief whip Balwantsinh Rajput today.

“I am sorry for my conduct. If it has hurt the feelings of my party and its leaders, including state Congress president Bharatsinh Solanki and Leader of Opposition in Gujarat Assembly Shankersinh Vaghela, I apologise,” Shaikh said in the letter.

The state unit of Congress had issued a show-cause notice to Shaikh for praising Patel through the advertisement he published in March this year.

In the notice, Rajput had reprimanded Shaikh for breaching the discipline of the party and asked why action should not be taken against him.

The notice further stated that Shaikh’s act of praising the party in power has hurt the sentiments of Congress and it has also hurt damaged the reputation of the party.

In the advertisement, which carried a photo of Anandi Patel, Shaikh congratulated her, Health Minister Nitin Patel as well as Minister of State for Health Shankar Chowdhary for announcing Rs 2 lakh medical assistance in case of serious illness related to heart, kidney and cancer for families whose income is lower than Rs 1.20 lakh per year.

Lauding Patel and her team for the scheme, the advertisement said the decision would benefit three crore people of Gujarat.

PTI