Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) in Gujarat has reportedly issued a notice to Yusuf Pathan, newly elected MP of Trinamul Congress and former member of the Indian national cricket team, on charge of allegedly occupying some government land close to his residence in Vadodora city. The Vadodora municipal body has reportedly asked the Trinamul Congress MP from Berhampore constituency in Murshidabad district to dismantle the wall erected surrounding the government land. The BJP-ruled Vadodora civic body sent the notice to Mr Pathan on 6 June, two days after the results of the general elections in the country were announced on 4 June, according to a news agency.
Mr Pathan had wanted to buy the plot of around 980 square mtrs during 2012. The civic body had also approved him to buy the plot but later the then Gujarat state government didn’t allow the Vadodora civic body to sell the land to Mr Pathan who also hails from the city. Since then Mr Pathan has been illegally occupying the land and a wall surround the plot has also been built by him, the VMC alleged. The Ruling Trinamul Congress in West Bengal had fielded Mr Pathan against the main rival Congress heavyweight Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, five-time MP and a member of the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in Baharampore. Mr Pathan became a ‘giant killer’ for his party supremo Mamata Banerjee after he defeated Mr Chowdhury, the West Bengal Pradesh Congress Committee (WBPCC) president, by a margin of more than 85,000 votes.