Bharatsinh Solanki cannot be reached for comments despite repeated calls made to his mobile phone.
Former Union minister and Gujarat Congress leader Bharatsinh Solanki on Tuesday published a notice in newspapers warning legal action against people entering into any kind of financial or other transactions with his estranged wife, his lawyer said.
Bharatsinh Solanki is one of the contenders for the post of Gujarat Congress president, sources said.
"(Reshmaben, Bharatsinh Solanki's wife) has not been living with my client for around four years. She has been behaving arbitrarily while living separately from him," reads the notice issued by Bharatsinh Solanki's lawyer Kiran Tapodhan.
"My client being a politically and socially respectable person, nobody should conduct financial or any such transactions with his wife by misusing his name and identity. It will not be my client's responsibility if anybody does anything like that. If my client finds out about any such transactions, he will take legal action against the person," it said.
Kiran Tapodhan confirmed to PTI that he issued the public notice on behalf of Bharatsinh Solanki, a former president of Gujarat Congress who had twice represented the Anand Lok Sabha constituency.
"They (Bharatsinh Solanki and his wife) have been living separately for years. It is important for Bharatsinh Solanki to be cautious as he is a respectable person and (apprehension is that) anybody can misuse his name," he said.
Bharatsinh Solanki cannot be reached for comments despite repeated calls made to his mobile phone.
Bharatsinh Solanki had served as Union minister of state for power and railways and also held independent charge of drinking water and sanitation. He had unsuccessfully contested the Rajya Sabha election last year as a Congress candidate.