Mumbai, amid talks of cross-voting, three of the 37 Congress MLAs in Maharashtra skipped a meeting called by the party ahead of Friday's legislative council elections.
Zeeshan Siddique, Jitesh Antapurkar and Sanjay Jagtap were absent from the meeting held here on Thursday night.
Antapurkar is close to former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who switched over to the BJP a few months ago, while Zeeshan's father Baba Siddique joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Sanjay Jagtap skipped the meeting as he was on 'wari' (annual pilgrimage procession) and was heading to the temple town of Pandharpur. The party said Jagtap had informed the leadership about his absence.
However, the meeting was attended by Sulabha Khodke, whose husband is a close aide of Ajit Pawar, and Hiraman Khoskar, who is said to be in touch with the NCP.
Congress leader Nitin Raut said his party is in a comfortable position. "It is the ruling alliance that is scared and that is why they have kept their MLAs hostage, something we have not done," he said.
Biennial elections for 11 council seats are held at the Vidhan Bhavan complex.
Each winning candidate would need a quota of 23 first preference votes.
The Congress has nominated one candidate, Pradnya Satav, and the surplus votes will be distributed among the other two candidates backed by Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, criticized reports of cross-voting in the Congress ranks.
“All our MLAs are at home, unlike the ruling alliance legislators. Last night, 35 MLAs were present at the meeting,” he said.
Both MLAs will be with the Congress, he stressed.
“We have contacted Antapurkar and Zeeshan. Antapurkar was absent due to a misunderstanding as he and his late father were close to Ashok Chavan,” Wadettiwar said.
The 288-member legislative assembly is the electoral college for the polls and its current number is 274.
The BJP is the largest party in the assembly with 103 members, followed by Shiv Sena (38), NCP (42), Congress (37), Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and NCP (SP) 10. The BJP has fielded five candidates and their ally Shiv Sena two. The PNC has nominated two candidates.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded a candidate, while the NCP (SP) is backing the PWP candidate.
Zeeshan Siddique, Jitesh Antapurkar and Sanjay Jagtap were absent from the meeting held here on Thursday night.
Antapurkar is close to former chief minister Ashok Chavan, who switched over to the BJP a few months ago, while Zeeshan's father Baba Siddique joined the Ajit Pawar-led NCP ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
Sanjay Jagtap skipped the meeting as he was on 'wari' (annual pilgrimage procession) and was heading to the temple town of Pandharpur. The party said Jagtap had informed the leadership about his absence.
However, the meeting was attended by Sulabha Khodke, whose husband is a close aide of Ajit Pawar, and Hiraman Khoskar, who is said to be in touch with the NCP.
Congress leader Nitin Raut said his party is in a comfortable position. "It is the ruling alliance that is scared and that is why they have kept their MLAs hostage, something we have not done," he said.
Biennial elections for 11 council seats are held at the Vidhan Bhavan complex.
Each winning candidate would need a quota of 23 first preference votes.
The Congress has nominated one candidate, Pradnya Satav, and the surplus votes will be distributed among the other two candidates backed by Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, Vijay Wadettiwar, criticized reports of cross-voting in the Congress ranks.
“All our MLAs are at home, unlike the ruling alliance legislators. Last night, 35 MLAs were present at the meeting,” he said.
Both MLAs will be with the Congress, he stressed.
“We have contacted Antapurkar and Zeeshan. Antapurkar was absent due to a misunderstanding as he and his late father were close to Ashok Chavan,” Wadettiwar said.
The 288-member legislative assembly is the electoral college for the polls and its current number is 274.
The BJP is the largest party in the assembly with 103 members, followed by Shiv Sena (38), NCP (42), Congress (37), Shiv Sena (UBT) 15 and NCP (SP) 10. The BJP has fielded five candidates and their ally Shiv Sena two. The PNC has nominated two candidates.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) has fielded a candidate, while the NCP (SP) is backing the PWP candidate.
