Upset over the recent developments in the Maharashtra unit of the party, Congress president Sonia Gandhi today deputed senior leader Mohan Prakash to the state for an inquiry and to submit a report.
The decision to send Prakash as an observer comes in the wake of the defeat of party nominee Chandrakant Handore in the MLC polls and the absence of 11 party legislators during the trust vote of the Eknath Shinde-BJP government.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole had met Sonia yesterday in the national capital to brief her on the recent developments in the state. He tweeted that the party leadership was unhappy that Handore failed to win in the MLC elections. As many as seven Congress MLAs are believed to have cross-voted in the MLC polls, resulting in the shock defeat of Handore.
Also, the Congress leadership is learnt to have taken strong exception to the absence of as many as 11 party MLAs, including Ashok Chavan and Vijay Wadettiwar, during the trust vote of the Shinde government in the Vidhan Sabha on July 4.
Patole's meeting with Sonia was the first after the fall of the MVA government in the state. Present in the meeting were former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and AICC General Secretary in charge of Organisation K.C. Venugopal.
The party high command is understood to be upset with the demeanour of many of the Congress leaders in the state, and Patole is learnt to have conveyed to the central leadership the need to fix accountability for lapses and take action against leaders for their activities that have gone against the interests of the party.
The Congress also has to chart out its future course of action in the wake of the fall of the coalition government that comprised the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress.
