Rajya Sabha candidate’s ‘deserted’ wife prays for victory

BJP’s “third” Rajya Sabha candidate in Madhya Pradesh Vinod Gotia has received support for his bid for the Upper House from unexpected quarters — his “deserted” wife Seema.

Almost two decades after being “separated” from her politician husband, 47-year-old Seema Gotia surfaced in public on Thursday to express her dismay that the saffron leader chose to “disown” his wife and daughter by concealing his marital status in his nomination papers to contest RS polls.

“I learnt about it (Mr Gotia hiding his marital status) from the media on Wednesday. This has upset me. But I still pray for my husband’s victory in the RS elections and also earnestly hope for a reunion with him,” Seema, hailing from Mandla in MP, told the media on Thursday.

Mr Gotia faced the prospect of being disqualified for contesting the RS polls for concealing his marital status in the nomination papers. He staved off this prospect by an affidavit to returning officer saying that he was staying separately from his wife and daughter since long.

According to her, they were married on July 14, 1997 and “separated” after enjoying conjugal life barely for one and half years for “reasons still unknown to me”.

“Our daughter was barely one and half months old when I was removed from his house. I had to move to my mother’s place along with my infant then. It has been 19 years since I heard from him. My daughter is now 17 years old and in this situation, I cannot approach him for reunion. But, I pray for reunion with him and hope he will take care of his daughter,” she added.

Asked why she did not divorce her husband, she said, “I still nurture the hope that we will be reunited one day”.

Their daughter Priya candidly says that she had never seen her father.

According to her, she first made contact with her father through SMS a few days ago when she came to know that he was coming to Mandla.

“I then talked to him over telephone”, she said.