MPCC team blames NCP for Ramtek debacle

Nagpur, May 24 (UNI) A two-member fact-finding team of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) has held its coalition partner, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), responsible for the defeat of party candidate Subodh Mohite at the recent by-election to Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency in Vidarbha region of the state.

Speaking to reporters here yesterday, committee members N M Kamble and Harish Rogye said that the legislators from three of the six assembly segments in Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency belong to the NCP. However, these legislators failed to co-ordinate with the grassroots level workers of the Congress during the run-up to the by-poll, they said.

''After speaking to party workers from across the constituency, it appears prima facie that the major reason for the defeat of the Congress was its poor performance in three assembly segments -- Katol, Kalameshwar and Morshi, each represented by a legislator of the NCP. There appears to have been hardly any co-ordination between NCP workers and Congress workers in these three segments,'' Mr Kamble and Mr Rogye said.

Katol is represented in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly by Maharashtra Minister Anil Deshmukh, and Kalameshwar by Ramesh Bang, both belonging to the NCP. Morshi is represented by Harshavardhan Deshmukh, who technically belongs to the Jan Surajya Party, a splinter group of the NCP.

When it was pointed out that the Congress had performed badly even in Umrer, represented by party legislator Rajendra Mulak, Mr Kamble and Mr Rogye said that this was because of the public ire against the long hours of load-shedding. Incidentally, Mr Mohite led in only one assembly segment, Saoner, represented by Sunil Kedar, an associate legislator of the Congress. The sixth segment, Ramtek, is represented by Ashish Jaiswal of the Shiv Sena.

Infighting in the Congress and the lack of interest among voters were the other factors that led to Mr Mohite's defeat in Ramtek, Mr Kamble and Mr Rogye said.

Besides, Mr Mohite did not adapt to the Congress style of functioning and continued to work on the Shiv Sena pattern, the leaders said. This led to a lack of co-ordination between Mr Mohite and Congress workers, they added.

The by-election in Ramtek was held because Subodh Mohite, who was elected in 2004 on a Shiv Sena ticket, resigned from the party and the House to join the Congress. Mr Mohite was the Congress nominee in the by-poll. The Shiv Sena had fielded Prakash Jadhav, who went on to win.

UNI