Congress MLA praises Gujarat CM in ads, party mulls action

A Congress MLA has praised Chief Minister Anandiben Patel by issuing advertisements in local newspapers, inviting the ire of its party members who are mulling an action against him.

MLA Gyasuddin Sheikh, an MLA from Dariapur constituency of the city, had issued advertisements in various newspapers yesterday, praising the BJP CM.

"Ahmedabad city unit will send a report to the state party disciplinary committee. The committee will then deliberate any action on it," said Congress State Unit Disciplinary Committee chief Balubhai Patel. "We are yet to receive a report from the city unit concerned. I have read the advertisements given by the MLA. But city unit report will tell us why such advertisements were given," Patel said.

The advertisement, which carried a photo of Anandiben, congratulated her, Health Minister Nitin Patel as well as Minister of State for Health, Shankar Chowdhary for announcement of Rs 2 lakh as 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. It said it will benefit three crore people of Gujarat and lauded Patel and his team for launching the scheme. Congress sources said that they were unhappy with Sheikh and that there was no need to issue advertisements in newspapers praising the chief minister if she had introduced a good medical assistance scheme.

"He could have simply written a letter of appreciation to her. What was the need to issue advertisements in newspapers?" asked a Congress leader on the condition of anonymity.