The Congress has begun the procedure of suspending the former legislator, Kanhaiyalal V. Gidwani, arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation in the Adarsh Housing Society case.
“I gave a direction to the party general secretary on Wednesday to suspend him from the party. The process will take around two days. We have already stripped him of party posts [when his name first cropped up in the case]. The party will investigate the matter,” president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Manikrao Thakre told journalists here on Wednesday.
Mr. Thakre said there was “no question of shielding” the party leader.
Mr. Gidwani joined the Congress in 2006 after quitting the Shiv Sena.
On cotton export ban, Mr. Thakre said the MPCC had made a representation to Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to lift the ban. Mr. Chavan went to Delhi on Wednesday to take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“MNS going Sena way”
In light of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray's backing to the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance in Thane, Mr. Thakre said the MNS was going the Sena way.
“We were not surprised when the MNS decided to support the Sena. They did it in the Ambernath Municipal Corporation and the Kalyan Dombivli Municipal Corporation. When Raj Thackeray formed the party, people thought it was going to be different, that it would chart a new path. But they are moving in the same direction as the Sena. There is no difference between the Sena and the MNS,” Mr. Thakre said.
