Samajwadi Party leader Mohammed Farooq Ghosi, who sparked a controversy by demanding a Rajya Sabha seat for Mumbai blasts convict Yakub Memon's wife, was on Saturday suspended from the party.
The party action came soon after Ghosi, the Maharashtra Unit Vice President of the party, wrote to the party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav requesting that Memon's wife Raheen be made a party nominee for the RS seat, triggering sharp reactions from the BJP, Shiv Sena and Congress.
The demand came two days after Memon was hanged in the Nagpur Central Jail.
Describing Raheen as helpless, Ghosi said in his letter to the SP chief that "Raheen was in jail for many years. How much she would have suffered...Today I find Raheen helpless and there are many such Muslims in the country who find themselves helpless and for whom we have to fight for. We should make Raheen a Rajya Sabha MP and make her the voice of weak and helpless people."
"Raheen too has undergone lots of difficulties. Being the wife of a terrorist does not make her a terrorist," he said.
SP state unit president Abu Azmi said the action against Ghosi was taken for going to the media with his demand without consulting the party president.