Video: ‘This decay must be removed,’ says LoP Wadettiwar; will Congress suspend rebels who voted against MLC election?

Maharashtra Congress leader Nana Patole has suggested to the party leadership that action should be taken against MPs who voted against party discipline in the recent biennial elections to the state’s legislative council. Seven Congress MPs reportedly voted against each other, leading to the defeat of Jayant Patil, one of the three candidates nominated by the council. Mahayuti won nine seats while the council had to settle for two.

The state Congress has taken a firm stand against the outvoting of party MPs. The opposition leader in Parliament, Vijay Wadettiwar, said on Tuesday that action would be taken against those who did not follow the party rules during the election.

“The state party chief has suggested to the party leadership that action must be taken against these MLAs. A meeting of state Congress leaders will be held in Mumbai on July 19. Our party’s state president Ramesh Chennithala and national general secretary KC Venugopal will be present in the meeting,” Wadettiwar said.

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At this meeting, Wadettiwar mentioned that a decision would be taken on the fate of the MPs who had voted crosswise in this election.

“And action will be taken against those who have betrayed the party,” Wadettiwar added.

“We, the state leadership, have unanimously sent a request to the High Command to take action against these traitors. It is necessary to cleanse the party of this decay and dishonesty. Such deputies will be taught a lesson,” he concluded.

Attention now turns to the Congress session in Mumbai on July 19. The party now faces an urgent task of addressing the issue as it had ignored similar incidents before. Cross-voting also occurred in the previous MLC election but was marred by Eknath Shinde’s coup the same evening. However, the Congress did not take any disciplinary action then.

Since there are now similar cases, the state congress is determined to expel the party leaders. The state congress has taken a firm stand against mutual voting by party deputies.