Eyebrows raised as LS functions without deputy chairman, Congress battles party issues

Even as the Monsoon Session of the state legislature is halfway through, the absence of deputy chairman in the Legislative Council has raised many eyebrows. The post, which belonged to NCP earlier, is expected to go to Congress this time. However, owing to fierce competition among its senior leaders, Congress has been unable to arrive at a consensus, said sources.

NCP earlier had both posts — Chairman and deputy chairman, which were presided by Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar and Vasant Davkhare, respectively.

However, in the recently held elections for the Council, Mr Davkhare was defeated by Shiv Sena’s Ravindra Phatak. This necessitated a election for the post of deputy chairman in the Upper House.

According to sources, during the recent election for MLCs, Congress supported NCP candidates in return for the latter’s support to Congress for deputy chairman. The agenda for electing the post was to be tabled in the ongoing Monsoon Session.

NCP has blamed Congress for failing to come to a consensus. “We had asked them to finalise their name for deputy chairman, but so far, there has been no word,” an NCP leader said. Sources in Congress said, names of top leaders Manikrao Thakre and Sharad Ranpise were doing the rounds.