Letter signed by Governor naming 6 for MLC goes viral, Raj Bhavan terms it fake

Mumbai: While governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is yet to approve 12 names recommended by the Maharashtra government to be appointed as the member of the legislative council (MLC) even after 17 months, a letter is doing rounds on social media platforms wherein he has recommended six names for the MLC seats reserved under his quota

Mumbai: While governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari is yet to approve 12 names recommended by the Maharashtra government to be appointed as the member of the legislative council (MLC) even after 17 months, a letter is doing rounds on social media platforms wherein he has recommended six names for the MLC seats reserved under his quota.

The Governor nominates 12 people as members of the legislative council (MLCs) for six years. (ANI)

The Governor’s office termed the letter fake. However, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole has called for an investigation saying that it needs to found if the Governor’s office is being used to issue fake letters as it bears Governor’s signature and letterhead.

The purported letter, dated September 29, 2020, and addressed to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, has names claiming to be recommended by the Governor -- Veerbhadresh Baswanti (social worker), Ramesh Kokate (politics), Satish Gharat (industrialist), Santosh Nath (social worker), Moreshwar Bhondwe (politics) and Jagannath Patil (social worker).

“All of them have notably contributed in their respective fields in the last 20 years and thus I am recommending their names,” states the alleged letter, directing CMO to “Submit a proposal comprising these names after taking approval from the state cabinet.”

Baswanti was a BJP activist from Solapur and died after the Covid-19 infection in April 2021. Kokate contested the last Assembly election from the Majalgaon constituency as a BJP candidate.

Nath contested the last state Assembly polls from Nashik East constituency as a Vanchit Bajujan Aghadi (VBA) candidate and Bhondve is an NCP corporator from Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation.

“It is clearly a fake letter as it has several mistakes including grammatical ones,” said a Raj Bhavan official.

The Governor nominates 12 people as members of the legislative council (MLCs) for six years. The appointment is to be made following the recommendations made by the state cabinet. In this case, most of the seats have been vacant since June 2020.

On November 6, 2020, the state government approved 12 names and sent them to the governor for appointment. The list submitted to the governor included the names of Vijay Karanjkar, Urmila Matondkar, Nitin Bangude-Patil and Chandrakant Raghuvanshi from the Shiv Sena; Eknath Khadse, Raju Shetti, Yashpal Bhinge and Anand Shinde from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP); and Rajni Patil, Sachin Sawant, Aniruddha Vankar and Muzaffar Hussain from the Congress.

Patole said that the letter has raised several questions. “The letter needs to be taken seriously as it has come out at the time when the Governor is not clearing the appointment for MLCs for almost two years. If it is fake then it needs to be investigated. It has raised many questions such as if the Governor’s office is being used to issue fake letters, if someone is using the Governor’s name to run a financial fraud, all this should be part of the investigation,” Patole told reporters.