Cong MLA Khedawala says party has promised to look into his grievances

Having been promised by the party leadership that they will look into his grievances, Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala said on Tuesday that he decided not to hand over his resignation to the Assembly Speaker.

Ahmedabad (Gujarat):Gujarat Congress MLA Imran Khedawala said on Tuesday that he decided not to hand over his resignation to the Assembly Speaker as the party leadership has promised him to look into his grievances.

"I had taken time from the Assembly Speaker to meet today and offer my resignation. But I had a talk with Amitbhai (state Congress chief Amit Chavda) in the morning, and he asked me not to be in a hurry to resign," he told media. "He asked me to wait. I also assured that I will not act (against the party's interest)," Khedawala said.

He submitted his resignation as party member to Chavda on Monday after the party offered tickets to two candidates in addition to the four he had recommended for Behrampura ward in Ahmedabad city. The ward falls under his Jamalpur-Khadia Assembly Constituency. The state Congress did not accept the resignation.

Khedawala said on Tuesday that he would work to ensure that Congress candidates in his constituency win in the civic polls scheduled for February 21. "The assurance given by the party leadership is satisfactory," he added. The state election commission on Monday rejected the nominations of two of the four candidates recommended by Khedawala, as a party can field a panel of only four candidates from each ward.

Angered by this, he had tendered resignation. "The party had given mandate to four candidates recommended by me on February 4. Later it gave mandate to two more candidates. Now that the two of my candidates have been replaced, I want to ensure that no further damage is done to the party. I accept the mandate and will be there to ensure that they win," he told reporters.

Khedawala also said that he was hurt and told the leadership that "this is not done". Chavda said the party cannot give tickets to every aspirant, and allocation is made after long deliberations. "We finalized tickets after long deliberations, by taking inputs and representations, and even offered tickets to those who might not be active in the party but are socially respectable and active," he said.

"We have confidence that we will win the elections and will fight against the might and arrogance of the ruling BJP," he said.

Read: Miffed over ticket allocation for civic polls, Cong MLA quits