Handore voices anger at party for defeat in council poll

Handore has charged that around seven Congress MLAs from his electoral catchment cross-voted, and hinted that some of these votes may have gone to Bhai Jagtap

Mumbai After the rebellion in the Shiv Sena, it is the turn of the discontent in the Congress to come to the fore. Former minister and Dalit leader Chandrakant Handore voiced his anger at elements within the party for his surprise defeat in the legislative council elections.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Mohan Prakash, who was tasked with examining the reasons for this loss in the council polls and the abstention of 12 legislators during the Eknath Shinde regime’s floor test, is expected to submit his report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi soon (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Handore has charged that around seven Congress MLAs from his electoral catchment cross-voted, and hinted that some of these votes may have gone to Bhai Jagtap, the president of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee (MRCC), who was the party’s second candidate and had emerged victorious. It is this loss which catalysed a chain of events that led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government as Eknath Shinde, who was then the minister of urban development in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime, walked away with 39 other Shiv Sena MLAs in his rebellion which begin that night.

Meanwhile, senior Congress leader Mohan Prakash, who was tasked with examining the reasons for this loss in the council polls and the abstention of 12 legislators during the Eknath Shinde regime’s floor test, is expected to submit his report to Congress president Sonia Gandhi soon.

On Sunday, Handore organised a show of strength by his social organisation ‘Bhimshakti’ in Chembur but denied that he was upset at the central leadership or that he planned to join the Eknath Shinde camp. “Lack of discipline has caused massive damage to the Grand Old Party…this should not be tolerated,” said Handore, adding that he had met senior leader Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi after his defeat, which led to Prakash being sent to Mumbai to probe the reasons for the same.

Handore, who belongs to the Buddhist Dalit community and is an ex-minister for social welfare, said that of the 44 Congress MLAs, 29 were asked to give him their first preference votes, but he secured just 22 of them.

However, Jagtap, who was the second candidate, and was expected to be in the fight for the tenth seat against Prasad Lad of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got 20 votes, instead of his fixed quota of 15. Handore hinted that some of the votes from his kitty may have gone to Jagtap. “I cannot make any allegations as the elections were conducted by a secret ballot system… but this is what is being discussed outside,” he added.

“Of my quota of 29 votes, I secured just 22 and seven votes were split. This is a huge conspiracy,” alleged Handore. “I am not upset at the party or its leadership. My ire is directed only at some elements who have broken with party discipline... my fight is against those who are trying to impose their autocracy on the party,” he claimed.

When contacted, Jagtap declined to comment. “I do not want to discuss this as the Congress party has ordered an inquiry and the process is underway. It will not be proper on my part to comment until then,” he claimed.