Guj Congress leaders protest arrest of MLA for bribery

Congress leaders Monday staged a protest against the arrest of party MLA Parsotam Sabariya and submitted a complaint to local police against Gujarat Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja.

Sabariya was Sunday arrested by Morbi A Division police for allegedly demanding and accepting a bribe from persons accused in an irrigation scam in Morbi district, over 60 kilometres from here, in return for not raising the issue in the state Assembly or before the government, a senior official had said.

Around a dozen Congress MLAs from Saurashtra region along with their supporters Monday protested outside Morbi A Division police station and submitted a complaint to the police demanding similar action against Minister of State for Home Pradipsinh Jadeja on the basis of an audio clip in which he was heard demanding bribe.

The police, however, refused to take their complaint, stating that the matter did not fall in their jurisdiction.

Meanwhile, a local court in Morbi sent Sabariya in police remand for one day.

The arrested MLA told reporters that the case was a "conspiracy" to end his political career.

Congress MLAs maintained that Sabariya, a leader from the Koli community, was being targeted by the BJP as he refused to shift allegiance to the ruling party despite being pressured.

"With Patidar leaders shifting their support away from the BJP, the ruling party is using all means--allurement or misuse of state machinery--to bring leaders from Thakor-Koli community under its fold," a protesting Congress leader said.

"If the police has arrested Sabariya on the basis of an audio clip (in which he is allegedly heard talking about bribe money ), we demand action against Pradipsinh Jadeja on the basis of a similar audio clip that had recently gone viral," protesting Congress MLA Lalit Kagathara said.

"The case dates back to 2017, when Sabariya was not even an MLA. The BJP has been in the government since last 22 years, and in 2017 people showed them the door in Morbi, which is why they are misusing state machinery to frame a simple, innocent person," he said.