Not just MLAs, Congress state chief Balasaheb Thorat too ask for ‘nyay’ for development funds

Mumbai: Congress state chief Balasaheb Thorat added to the chorus of the 11 Congress MLAs who had demanded parity in the release of funds, threatening to go on a hunger strike if their demands are not met.

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Thorat said, “We are 171 MLAs of three parties and there needs to be justice when it comes to development funds. We are working on satisfying the concerns of MLAs for them their constituency is paramount and they need justice.”

This is the second time that Thorat has come out in the open about differences with allies in the Mahavikas Aghadi. The first time around several sets of meetings were held with the Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to arrive at an uneasy settlement, but the issue of development funds seems to continue to be a sticking point.

The issue was resurrected when Jalna MLA Kailas Gorantyal told Times Now on Sunday that he had been fighting for funds from the local civic body but had been denied the allocation but the Shiv Sena leader he had defeated in the elections managed to get those funds released, albeit to a state department rather than the civic body department. He said there were more MLAs like him who had been aggrieved and 11 of them had raised the issue internally with the Congress.

The Saamana in an editorial on Tuesday seemed to reprimand the MLAs saying they were disrespecting Rahul and Sonia Gandhi who allowed this alliance in the first place by their in-fighting, especially at a time when Congress needed to be a strong opposition.

The editorial also mentioned that what could Sena do if Congress MLAs felt that NCP was hogging the funds and indicated that the question is asked to Finance Minister and Dy CM Ajit Pawar.

The editorial concluded by saying that Chief Minister Thackeray was capable of handling any problems. Within hours of this editorial being published, Thorat commenting on the lack of parity in funds distribution is being seen as a proof of widespread discontent in the Congress.