A senior NCP leader informed that 12 vacant MLC seats will also be filled within a month after which the ruling alliance will have a clear majority in the Upper House for the next six years. The 12 members will be appointed by the Governor on the advice of the state government. The seats are vacant from 2020.
Among the new members, the BJP has the maximum five MLCs including the party’s one of senior leaders Pankaja Munde, who will be hoping for a cabinet berth soon. Other BJP members included Parinay Fuke, Yogesh Tilekar, Amit Gorkhe, and Sadabhau Khot.
After taking the oath, Gorkhe said he will work to dispel false narrative of the opposition and to unite the Scheduled Castes in Maharashtra.
11 newly elected members of the Maharashtra legislative council took their oaths of office at the Vidhan Bhavan on Sunday. BJP’s Pankaja Munde, Parinay Fuke, Yogesh Tilekar, Amit Gorkhe, and Sadabhau Khot, alongside NCP’s Rajesh Vitekar and Shivajirao Garje, and Shiv Sena’s Bhavana Gawali and Krupal Tumane were the members from the ruling parties. Uddhav Thackeray’s close associate Milind Narwekar and Congress’s Pradnay Satav also took oaths.
“Parties like Congress promised to work for the marginalised communities. But they never thought of giving us representation in the Rajya Sabha or legislative council. The BJP and Devendra Fadnavis did that. Therefore our communities are firmly behind them,” Gorkhe said.
Pankaja Munde expressed her intention to be a voice for the politically marginalised and stressed the importance of unity among OBCs and Marathas in order to maintain the state’s social fabric. The two groups have been at loggerheads recently over the reservation issue. Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange has demanded reservation for his community from the OBC category, which has been strongly opposed by various OBC outfits.
Uddhav Thackeray’s close associate Milind Narwekar and Congress’s Pradnya Satav were also among the newly elected MLCs. The Maha Vikas Aghadi — alliance of Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) — had also fielded Peasants and Workers Party (PWP) chief Jayant Patil as its third candidate in the MLC election. However, Patil lost the election due to cross-voting by the MVA legislators from Congress and NCP (SP).