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Maha Congress in BREAK-UP MODE?

Mumbai: Political circles in Maharashtra are abuzz with speculation about imminent defections by MLAs from the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and even those left in Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray faction. According to the grapevine, the people’s representatives may all be inducted into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Sena’s Eknath Shinde-led rebel formation.

When contacted for comment, senior Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan dismissed speculative reports and said, “For such a political move to materialize from the Congress, merely 11 to 15 MLAs will not It would require 30 MLAs from the party and even then, these MLAs would need to merge with the BJP. Otherwise, they face disqualification under the Anti-defection law and will need to resign (from their posts).” A source familiar with the development said, “We have learnt that around 11 to 15 Congress MLAs were being lured into the BJP a couple of months ago. This was in the wake of raids conducted by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on premises of people managing the financial affairs of four ministers in the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. It included two leaders from Shiv Sena, and one each from NCP and Congress. The raided premises (some were located in Maker Chambers in south Mumbai) led to the seizure of data in possession of these ministers.”

However, the source maintained , “The raids were strategically planned on close associates of MVA ministers including Anil Parab (Shiv Sena), Jitendra Awhad (NCP) and Ashok Chavan (Congress). A follow-up action was witnessed against another Congress leader’s close associates. The raids did not target the politicians’ own premises but their close associates.” The source added that all seized data was scanned for monetary transactions to register cases under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). “Today, the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) is politically redundant, except for public servants. For political corruption, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has become the main player. Once a PMLA case is registered, the accused are unable to refuse any political offer made to them for fear of potential incarceration for at least two years,” said the source. Citing an example, another source quipped, “This was a classical case of ‘Operation Kamal’ (referring to the BJP’s symbol). The BJP, armed with details of PMLA cases against the MLAs, simply told them to leave their respective political parties, and even resign from their positions (as MLAs). They were told that if they were not amenable, then the door for further conversation would be completely shut for any future rapprochement possibilities.”

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