Senior leaders give Congress meet a miss

Congress party leaders’ dissatisfaction over MPCC president Ashok Chavan’s style of working came to light on Tuesday when senior leaders, including former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, Narayan Rane, former minister Patangrao Kadam, former Union minister Sushilkumar Shinde and Gurudas Kamat boycotted a party meeting called at Vidhan Bhavan to discuss candidature for the legislative council. In the meeting, a sub-committee was appointed under the leadership of former MPCC president Manikrao Thakre to recommend whether to contest two seats or not and the name of the candidates.

According to a former minister, most of the MLAs were disappointed with Mr Chavan’s decision to announce support to NCP candidate Vasant Davkhare contesting from Thane local body constituency.

Mr Thakre wanted Congress to contest two seats without tying up with NCP. He said, “As Congress will get nothing out of supporting NCP, why should we care for them We had asked NCP to give us the post of deputy chairman in the Upper House in exchange for our support, but the party did not agree.”

According to a source, in the meeting, Mr Thakre brought attention to the missing leaders. He said that the legislators are unhappy with Mr Chavan’s style of working as he takes decisions on behalf of the party without consulting other party leaders.

However, keeping in mind the mood of the meeting, a strong supporter of Mr Chavan, Abdul Sattar, the legislator from Sillod in Aurangabad district, suggested that Congress should contest two seats. Another Congress leader Vijay Vadettiwar, who also hails from the Chavan camp seconded Mr Sattar’s suggestion. Mr Chavan then appointed a committee under Mr Thakre to recommend whether to contest two seats or not.

The source said Mr Thakre has suggested that there is a possibility that each candidate of Congress will get 21 votes and will win the election. The source said that if Congress contests on two seats and one loses the election or even if the committee recommends contesting one seat, in both cases Mr Thakre will be the target and Mr Chavan will remain safe.