Bhopal, April 3 (IANS) The conviction of Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti by Delhi’s Special MP/MLA court in a cheating case, followed by his disqualification from the Madhya Pradesh Legislative Assembly within hours, has triggered a political row in the state.

Madhya Pradesh Congress president Jitu Patwari, addressing a press conference on Friday, raised questions on the haste shown in disqualifying Datia’s Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti’s membership from the State legislative assembly, stating that the court has convicted him (Bharti) but gave him a window of 60 days to challenge Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court’s order in the High Court.

“While the court has indeed convicted Rajendra Bharti, it has also granted a 60-day window for him to present his case before a higher court. But the BJP misused its power, put pressure on officials in the State Assembly Secretariat to issue an order regarding Bharti’s disqualification during late night (March 2),” Patwari said.

For the late-night development at the Assembly Secretariat, Patwari targeted senior BJP leader and Speaker Narendra Singh Tomar, accusing him of being impartial in making decisions.

On the other hand, the ruling BJP welcomed the decision of Bharti’s disqualification from the state Assembly, stating that action came following his conviction.

“The matter concerns Congress MLA Rajendra Bharti from Datia and has been fully addressed by the court. Any discrepancies in the documents submitted by him have been considered by the court in its order. I believe that the court’s order, whatever it may be, should be respected by all parties, and the BJP stands with the court’s decision,” Madhya Pradesh BJP president Hemant Khandelwal told IANS.

Delhi’s Rouse Avenue court on Thursday (April 2) sentenced Bharti and a former bank employee to three years’ imprisonment in a cheating case involving the forging of bank records to obtain illegal interest payments between 1998 and 2011.

The duo was convicted on Wednesday (April 1) for the offences of criminal conspiracy, cheating, forgery of a valuable security, forgery for cheating, and using a forged document as genuine.

–IANS

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