JAIPUR: The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Rajasthan has suspended its MLA Gopal Lal Dhobi from primary membership of the party following a public outcry over his alleged attempt to grab community land worth crores of rupees in his Assembly constituency, Kekri, in Ajmer district. Thousands of residents had come out on the streets on Saturday last setting fire to his car and attacking his residence while protesting against his attempt to build a boundary wall on the land forming part of the Patel Maidan adjacent to the Government Secondary School.

The announcement suspending Mr. Dhobi from the party came on Tuesday evening after BJP State unit president Mahesh Sharma held a meeting with senior party functionaries here. A report from the three-member committee constituted by Dr. Sharma to look into the land grab issue had found serious misconduct on the part of Mr. Dhobi.

The party leadership noted that during the previous Budget Session of the State Assembly, Mr. Dhobi had raised the issue in the House. This was against the decorum of the House as the member was also a party to the dispute over the land, the BJP leadership felt.

Unprecedented public reaction in Kekri reportedly prompted the BJP leadership here to act against the MLA even before Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje returned to the State capital from Sikar and Alwar on Tuesday. Mr. Dhobi had shared the dais with Ms. Raje in Alwar during the day on the occasion of the launch of the Jal Chetna Yatra (water awareness campaign).

The Kekri incident proved a big embarrassment for the ruling party as the members of public who chased Mr. Dhobi, his family members, municipal chairperson Sushila Jain and BJP block president Shanti Lal Jain, also shouted slogans against the Government. Such was the public fury that Sub Divisional Magistrate Madan Lal and Deputy Superintendent of Police Jagdish Sharma also had to make a hasty retreat from the scene.

Mr. Dhobi on his part has pleaded innocent, terming the enquiry as "one-sided". He had met the State party president in this connection on Monday. Following his suspension, Mr. Dhobi has volunteered to apologise and "gift" the disputed land to the school and build a wall around it from his MLA Local Area Development Fund.

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