As Congress suffered a jolt in the Maharashtra Legislative Council elections on Monday, its senior leader and minister Balasaheb Thorat said no one can be blamed if the party’s own MLAs did not vote for its candidates. He also called for introspection by the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi after the BJP managed to outwit it for the second time after the June 10 Rajya Sabha election.
Congress had fielded Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap and former minister Chandrakant Handore in the Council election. Jagtap bagged 19 votes while Handore secured 22 votes in the first round. The Congress has 44 MLAs in the state Assembly but it got only 41 first preference votes. Of its two candidates, Handore lost to the BJP’s Prasad Lad.
Sanjay Nirupam, another Congress leader, dubbed the defeat as internal sabotage. “Bhai Jagtap got votes from some friends, but I can’t deny that we lost some votes of our party,” he said.
When asked why Congress did not even get support from its allies Shiv Sena and NCP, Thorat said, “No one can be blamed when we don’t get our first preference votes. We can’t blame anyone. We have to look within. We have to introspect where we have gone wrong. We, as the government, have to introspect where we are going wrong. But all three parties have to introspect on this,” Thorat added.
Nirupam, a former Mumbai Congress chief, said it was unfortunate that Handore, who was the first preference candidate of the party, lost to the second preference candidate.
“It’s really unfortunate that a Dalit candidate Chandrakant Handore who was supposed to get first preference votes of Congress MLAs lost to the 2nd preference candidate of Congress party. It’s nothing but internal sabotage. My sympathy with Handore. #MLCElection #Maharashtra,” Nirupam tweeted.
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