IANS

Bhopal, Jun 17: Former Madhya Pradesh minister Rajkumar Patel has been expelled from the Congress party for six years for allegedly giving a walkover to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Sushma Swaraj during the recently held parliamentary elections, party sources said Wednesday.

Patel was fielded against Swaraj on the Vidisha Lok Sabha seat but his nomination was rejected since he had submitted a photocopy of the Form-A (meant to inform the Election Commission of the candidate's party affiliation) whereas the rules categorically specify that the form has to be original.

"The AICC (All India Congress Committee) was forced to take stern action against Patel, who was found guilty of not filing his nomination papers in time during the parliamentary election," Madhya Pradesh Congress general secretary Rajiv Singh told IANS.

The party had also issued an alternative Form-A, which was handed over to Patel minutes before the deadline but it is alleged that he did not show any urgency to submit the form and his nomination papers were rejected.

On May 8, Patel was removed from the post of state general secretary for deliberately making mistakes in filing nomination papers.

"I accept the party's decision with a heavy heart. Since I believe that the Congress is not only a party but an ideology, I would continue to work with the same ideology," Patel told IANS.

Patel had been president of the Congress-backed National Students' Union of India (NSUI) and Youth Congress in the 1980s and 90s.

"It was beyond anyone's understanding why Patel, who belongs to a family of politicians and has been a minister in the past, gave a photocopy when the Congress party office in Bhopal had issued him the original Form-A nine days before the last date of filing nomination papers. He can't be said to be ignorant of the correct procedures," said a senior Congress leader, who did not want to be named.