A day after BJP MP Saumitra Khan’s wife Sujata Mondol Khan joined the Trinamool Congress (TMC), the saffron party leader filed a divorce notice against his wife.
Khan has also asked his wife not to use his surname anymore. The two were married in July 2016 but according to the divorce papers, they were living separately for the past six months.
The papers also mention that Sujata pressurised her husband to assign her key posts within the BJP.
“That, after my client’s 2019 Lok Sabha election success and win, you unreasonably and constantly started demanding my client in helping you to be assigned on key post(s) and functions in Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or allied activities. BJP is a merit-based organisation and does not encourage nepotism. Since you were not involved in the integral matters of the BJP, you started pressurising, threatening and abusing my client for not getting you the key position(s) in BJP,” the divorce papers, filed by Saumitra Khan's lawyer, mention.
It also states, “Subsequently, you demanded him to leave BJP and join TMC with you as you were inducted in the TMC with a plum party post. When this demand of yours was refused by my client, as my client is very loyal to the BJP, you not only abused my client but physically assaulted him and deserted him.”
According to the divorce papers, the main reason behind the divorce proceedings is that given the conditions, the move to switch to TMC may cause serious mental torture to Khan who is a distinguished public figure and has an unblemished track record in his public life.
After Sujata joined TMC she had said, “I don’t have the habit of jumping ships after getting all facilities from the party. I was in the BJP when they only had two seats. We never thought the BJP would rise from 2 to 18. I had fought for the BJP but got no respect from the party.”
The battle between the two Khans has spilt onto the political arena with the 2021 Assembly elections six months away, with a high-pitched battle between the BJP and the TMC.
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