While former Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil skipped the meeting of the State unit of the Congress on Friday, the leadership of the party has asked all district presidents and candidates contesting the general elections to submit a report, based on which action is likely to be taken against those involved in anti-party activities.
Five Congress MLAs have come under the scanner for campaigning against the official candidate of the party or the alliance. These include Mr. Vikhe-Patil, Nitesh Rane, Abdul Sattar, Kalidas Kolambkar and Jaikumar Gore.
“We have asked all our candidates to submit a report on the campaign. The report will have [details] of all the happenings. The future course of action will be decided accordingly,” said State Congress unit president Ashok Chavan.
Another senior leader who was present at the meeting said that action will be initiated after the results. “Let the picture be clear after polls and only then can we proceed,” he said. The MLAs in question did not attend the meeting on Friday. Mr. Vikhe-Patil has already resigned from the post of Leader of Opposition.
Meanwhile, the party has also directed its members to start organising tours of the drought-affected areas from May 12 to 20. “As per the inputs from our party leaders, there is absolutely no seriousness on part of the State government in tackling the drought and no plan is in place. While the government claims credit for relaxing the model code of conduct for drought-relief measures, no manpower is available on ground to tackle the drought,” said Ashish Dua, AICC secretary and in-charge of the State.
The Congress leaders said that this drought has exposed the government’s claims of making thousands of villages in the State drought-free. “The fodder camps are turning out to be complete hogwash as not even 10% cattle is being provided with fodder and water,” Mr. Chavan alleged.