From courtroom to poll field, ‘second wife’ stands against Cong tribal leader

Former Congress minister of state for railways and tribal leader Naran Rathwa is likely to face new trouble with Rekhaben, who claims to be Rathwa's "second wife", having decided to contest the Assembly elections later this year from Chhotaudepur, the leader's native town.

Rekhaben, who joined Janata Dal (United) recently, was seen sharing the stage with state and national JD(U) leaders during media briefing on Saturday. She said she was also being offered a post in the party at the national level.

Rekhaben, who is fighting two legal cases against Rathwa, said she also planned to have a political battle with her "second husband" as he was not willing to accept her as his "wife" who "fathered" two sons.

Rathwa's MBA son Sangramsinh from his first wife — Manjulaben — is seeking Congress ticket from Chhotaudepur. Sangramsinh is the general secretary of the Gujarat Pradesh Yuva Congress as also an elected member of the Chhotaudepur Municipal Committee. JD(U) state general secretary Gobind Jadav said she would be given ticket from Chhotaudepur if she was willing to contest Assembly elections from there.

Rekhaben, who claims to have come in contact with Rathwa in 1983 in connection with transfer of her former engineer husband Kashyap Himmatbhai Solanki from Vadodara to Amreli, alleged that she was having two sons from Rathwa. She identified them as Digvijaysinh, who is doing marine engineering course from Phillipines and the younger one as Prithvirajsinh, who is staying in an orphanage in Rajkot.

Her engineer husband was found murdered under mysterious circumstances in 1985. Rekhaben has a daughter, Chandni, from Solanki.

While Rekhaben has filed a case in Amreli district court seeking DNA test of Rathwa to prove parentage of her two sons, she is facing another case in Vadodara court where Rathwa has filed a complaint seeking Rs 2 crore compensation from her for tarnishing his image in public and causing mental torture to him and his family. However, Rekhaben said, "Rathwa is avoiding appearance in Amreli court." The next hearing is scheduled on September 17.

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