Maharashtra Congress suspends former MLA Ashish Deshmukh over anti-party comments
Mumbai, Apr 7: The Congress in Maharashtra has suspended former MLA Ashish Deshmukh from its primary membership for his public statements against the party leadership in the state.
A party notice, which announced the disciplinary action against the former legislator, said charges levelled against Deshmukh are serious in nature.
Deshmukh is a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA from Katol in Nagpur who later joined the Congress. He was the Congress nominee against BJP leader and now Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis from the Nagpur South West seat in the 2019 Assembly polls.
He is the son of former state Congress chief Ranjit Deshmukh.
On Wednesday, he was issued a show-cause notice by the state Congress's disciplinary action committee headed by former CM Prithviraj Chavan for his comments that MPCC president Nana Patole receives money from Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Deshmukh also said Congress leader Rahul Gandhi should apologise to the OBC community over his "Modi surname" remarks.
The notice, issued to the former MLA after a meeting of the disciplinary committee, sought a reply from him in three days as to why he shouldn't be expelled from the primary membership of the Congress.
The notice said since charges levelled against Deshmukh are serious in nature, he has been suspended from the primary membership of the Congress till further proceedings and final disposal of the matter.
In January this year, Deshmukh had written a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge seeking removal of Patole from his post, saying the Opposition party's condition in Maharashtra was "alarming" and there was a need to change the state unit president.
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Pillar placed on Banda-Mahoba rail track in UP, minor held
Mahoba(UP), Sep 28: A 16-year-old boy has been apprehended for allegedly putting a fencing pillar on the Banda-Mahoba rail track, causing disruptions on Saturday, police said.
The driver of the passenger train had to apply emergency brakes to stop the train after he noticed a concrete pillar on the tracks, police said.
The incident occurred on Saturday afternoon when the driver of a passenger train informed the Railway Protection Force and police about the obstruction on the track, they said.
"Police team along with RPF reached the spot and detained a minor. The minor has confessed to placing the pillar on the track," Circle Officer (CO) of the area Deepak Dubey said.
The rail traffic on the route was cleared shortly after the pillar was removed from the track, the officer said.
A similar incident occurred earlier in the day in Ballia.
A rail engine hit a stone placed on the railway track in the Bairia area on Saturday, officials said, adding that no damage was caused.
Public Relations Officer of the North Eastern Railway Ashok Kumar told PTI that on Saturday the loco pilot applied emergency brakes after seeing the stone.
