Maharashtra: Congress suspends former MLA Ashish Deshmukh for anti-party comments

In an anti-party statement by Ashish Deshmukh, he called on Gandhi to “apologize to the OBC community” and that Patole got Rs 1 crore from the current Chief Minister

Mumbai: Former MLA Ashish Deshmukh was suspended as a key member of Congress on Friday over several anti-party comments and statements, officials said.

The MPCC’s disciplinary action committee met here on Wednesday and took careful note of Deshmukh’s recent remarks and “unsubstantiated allegations” against top party leaders such as state president Nanapatore and senior state leader Rahul Gandhi.
These included his call on Gandhi to “apologise to the OBC community” and Patole getting Rs 1 crore from the current Chief Minister.

“As a member of the Congress party, you know that the agenda of the current BJP government is to tarnish the image of the opposition party by filing bogus cases against them. We note that you have been publicly criticizing the Congress leadership,” MPCC-DAC chairman Prithviraj Chavan (Former CM) Signed performance notice said.

The notice of reason for the show asked Deshmukh to give an answer within three minutes on why he should not be immediately expelled from the party.

Congress warned that if he did not reply it would be considered an admission of charges and the party would decide on the matter without further reference to him.

In the notice, Chavan also advised Deshmukh not to make any public statements until the matter is resolved.