20 Congress legislators seek meeting with Sonia, leaders deny rift in ranks

Sparking speculation about turbulence within the state unit, around 20 Congress legislators have sought an audience with party president Sonia Gandhi

Sparking speculation about turbulence within the state unit, around 20 Congress legislators have sought an audience with party president Sonia Gandhi.

The legislators are expected to voice their disgruntlement at party ministers and office-bearers in the state at the meeting with Congress president Sonia Gandhi. File Photo

The legislators, who will be part of an all-party team which will be in New Delhi on April 5 and 6 for a training session, have written to Gandhi for a meeting during their stay in the national capital. They are expected to voice their disgruntlement at party ministers and office-bearers in the state. The initiative has been taken by Sangram Thopte, a senior legislator from Bhor-Velha in Pune district.

Congress leaders in Maharashtra are upset at ally Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) stealing a march over them and gradually trying to eat into its political and social base. The weakening of authority of the central leadership in the wake of the party’s successive electoral reverses, factionalism in the state Congress, and the perception that the NCP and Shiv Sena are trying to dominate it, have also led to unease in the ranks of the grand old party. Congress leaders are also perturbed at the delay in making appointments to various state-run corporations, which act as sinecures for legislators and leaders who have not been accommodated as ministers and in party positions.

Thopte, however, denied that there was any disgruntlement in the party. “The letter is meant to seek an appointment… speculation about any disgruntlement must be laid to rest,” he added, while conceding that issues about the party organisation and the state government were likely to be raised in the meeting. The letter has been sent on Thopte’s letterhead. “I want to make it clear that we are not heading there to vent anger against anyone,” he said.

Revenue minister and Congress legislature party leader Balasaheb Thorat and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole will also attend this proposed meeting.

“It has been almost two-and-a-half years since the state government came to power, but some first-time MLAs are yet to meet the Congress president personally. Since we were going to Delhi for the conference, we have sought an appointment with her,” a Congress MLA told HT.

He further said that in an informal meeting of legislators, issues regarding the working of the party and its ministers had come to the fore. “For example, each of the 12 ministers has been given charge of three MLAs and it is expected that they must handle issues relating to development projects in the constituencies of these legislators. However, in the meeting, some MLAs complained that they were not aware of the minister who was holding charge for them.”

The three-term Congress legislator added that once Gandhi gave them an appointment, they would decide among themselves which legislators would voice their concerns to her in the meeting.

While Thorat and H.K. Patil, who is in-charge of the state Congress, could not be contacted for their comments, MPCC office-bearers denied any rift and said this was a routine meeting.

“There is nothing wrong with legislators seeking to meet the party president… This government will run for five years,” said Atul Londhe, general secretary and spokesperson of the MPCC, while denying any disgruntlement in the ranks.