Former legislator's wife found begging in UP

Gonda, Aug 18: Prema Devi, widow of two-time legislator and also considered close to former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was found begging in the streets of Gonda in Uttar Pradesh

Abandoned by her family, 80-year-old Prema Devi was spotted collecting money outside the District Women's Hospital in Gonda, about 200 km from the state capital Lucknow.

She told to reporters who spotted her that, life took a turn for the drastic after her husband Suraj Lal Gupta, who was a Jan Sangh legislator in the 1960s, died in 2007.

She also said, "He (son) changed completely after his father's death in 2007 and told me that I should make my own livelihood arrangements. A few days back, he made me leave the house when I spoke out against the sale of the ancestral house."

"We were taken by surprise and shocked to know that the wife of a former MLA now collects alms," Gonda Additional District Magistrate Sukhlal Bharti told to news agencies.

She also said, "We have ordered an inquiry into the incident and will make every possible arrangement to help her."

OneIndia News