Mumbai: Taking serious cognisance of the instance of cross-voting in the June MLC biennial elections and absence of 11 legislators during the July 4 vote of confidence by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, the Congress ordered a high-level probe, party sources said here on Friday.
The Congress has directed national spokesperson Mohan Prakash to conduct the enquiry into these lapses on an urgent basis.
“The Congress President has deputed Mohan Prakash to Maharashtra to make an enquiry and submit a report in the wake of the recent political developments in the state, with immediate effect,” said an announcement from AICC General Secretary K.C. Venugopal.
The developments came quick on the heels of meetings between Rahul Gandhi and ex-minister Naseem Khan and Chandrakant Handore — the party’s official nominee who lost the MLC polls on June 20.
Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole had met Sonia Gandhi on Thursday and demanded action while the candidate Chandrakant Handore had met Rahul Gandhi and had complained about the seven MLAs who had cross-voted which was a precursor to the fall of MVA government where Sena rebels also cross voted .
Mumbai Congress president Bhai Jagtap had said: “High Command should take action against the seven MLAS and the party has sent notice to 11 others who were absent during the trust vote.”
Similarly, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has sought disciplinary action against the errant legislators who may have cross-voted in the MLC polls and also 11 others — including ex-Chief Minister Ashok Chavan — for absenteeism during the Shinde government’s vote of confidence on July 4.
Khan has pointed out to the party top brass how Handore — the Congress official candidate was allotted 29 votes against the 26 quota, but managed to bag only 22, indicating a cross-voting by at least seven party MLAs.
Earlier, ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan had also accused 7 Congress MLAs of alleged cross-voting and demanded action against them.
Last month’s fast-paced developments, starting with the Rajya Sabha (June 10) and MLC (June 20) polls saw the erstwhile Maha Vikas Aghadi nominees suffering major reverses with the Bharatiya Janata Party getting advantage on both occasions.
Later, on June 20, the MVA ally Shiv Sena was beset by a sudden revolt that saw the collapse of the 31-month-old government in just 10 days, with the BJP-supported Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis sworn-in on June 30.
(IANS)
