A significant Congress core committee meeting is taking place in Mumbai. Present at the meeting are Congress General Secretary KC Venugopal, Maharashtra in-charge Ramesh Chennithala, Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole, and other key state leaders including Balasaheb Thorat, Vijay Wadettiwar, Leader of Opposition Prithviraj Chavan, Sushil Kumar Shinde, Mukul Wasnik, and Avinash Pandey.
The focus of this crucial gathering is to strategize for the upcoming assembly elections in Maharashtra. In the recent parliamentary elections, Congress secured a significant win, emerging as the largest party in the state with 13 Lok Sabha MPs. Combined with Shiv Sena UBT's 9 MPs and the NCP (Pawar)'s 8 MPs, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition won 30 out of 48 constituencies in Maharashtra.
The meeting will also address disciplinary actions against party MLAs who cross-voted in the recent biennial legislative council election. The state leadership had previously recommended action against these rebels to the central leadership. Leader of Opposition Wadettiwar has been particularly vocal, describing the rebels as a 'decay' that needs to be eradicated from the party.
All attention is now on Congress's potential moves to strengthen its position as the 'big brother' within the MVA and whether it will expel legislators who violated party directives during the MLC election.