The Congress on Sunday suspended former MP Shakeel Ahmad for contesting as an independent from Madhubani, Bihar. The party has also suspended MLA from Benipatti Bhavana Jha for anti-party activities in regard with ongoing elections, ANI reported.
On April 16, Ahmad filed his nomination papers as an independent candidate from Madhubani in Bihar. In a tweet, the former Congress leader said that he had requested party president Rahul Gandhi to permit him friendly fight on party symbol in Chatra, Jharkhand or as independent with Congress support in Supaul, Bihar.
A day before filing his papers, Shakeel Ahmad resigned from the post of a senior spokesperson of AICC. He sent his resignation to Congress President Rahul Gandhi. The former Congress leader was elected to Lok Sabha in 1998 and 2004. He also served as general secretary of the Congress.
This time, the Congress is a part of grand alliance in Bihar. It is contesting on nine of 40 seats. Tejasvi Yadav-led RJD is fighting on 19 seats, RLSP on 5, HAM on 3 and Mukesh Shahni’s VIP on 3 seats. In Madhubani, VIP has fielded Badrinath Purve to take on Ashok Kumar Yadav from BJP.
(More details awaited)