The Congress on Monday expelled senior party leader Satyavrat Chaturvedi over his involvement in anti-party activities.
The former Congress spokesperson has been accused of campaigning for the Samajwadi Party in favour of his son Nitin.
In early November, Nitin Chaturvedi, son of Satyavrat filed nomination as a Samajwadi Party (SP) candidate from Rajnagar in Bundelkhand region of Madhya Pradesh. Irked with the Congress for ignoring his ground level works, Nitin decided to join the Akhilesh Yadav-led party in Madhya Pradesh.
However, Satyartrat later made it clear that he himself is still with the Congress and did not leave the Congress ideologies, adding that Congress has been repeating the same mistake (of ignoring his son) for 15 years. Doing injustice is a sin, and tolerating injustice is equally sinful.
“So my son took the decision to go to the people's court,” he said, adding that it was Nitin's own decision to contest on SP ticket. He is an adult and the father of two children, so he can take decisions on his own. “I will help him as much as I can," he added.
The Congress, on the other hand, fielded Vikram Singh Natiraja from Rajnagar seat. Defending the decision to give the ticket to Natiraja, Congress spokesperson Pankaj Chaturvedi cited his record.
"Natiraja is a three-time MLA from Rajnagar. He won two consecutive elections, in 2008 and 2013, on Congress ticket. He was elected as an MLA on SP's ticket in 2003. How can Congress ignore ground reports," Pankaj said.
Last year, Satyavrat was removed as the Congress's chief whip in Rajya Sabha and had been replaced with Bhubaneshwar Kalita.