Congress leaders in Maharashtra are crying foul over the “swift suspension” of party MLA and former minister Sunil Kedar from the state assembly following his conviction by a court for misappropriation of funds at the Nagpur District Central Cooperative Bank (NDCCB). Kedar’s Savner constituency in Vidarbha has, consequently, fallen vacant.
Congress leader from Vidarbha Atul Londhe Patil questioned the state’s ruling Maha Yuti alliance over the development. “We all must respect the order of the court, but why was his membership of the assembly suspended immediately? Why is there always a different set of rules for opposition parties?” he said.
A gazette order of the state legislature secretariat issued on Saturday said Kedar stood disqualified as MLA from the date of his conviction on December 22 under provisions of Article 19 (1) (e) of the Constitution of India and Section 8 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.
“If a BJP MP or MLA gets convicted by court, they get ample time to approach the higher court. The party in power tries all available options to save its own MPs or MLAs. But this is not available for MPs and MLAs of the Congress party or any other opposition party,” Atul Londhe Patil said. “We don’t even get time to appeal to a higher court. Our leader Rahul Gandhi was convicted in one case and within 24 hours he was suspended from the Lok Sabha. Further, he was asked to vacate his residence too. After he gets some relief from the apex court his membership is reinstated.”
The Congress leader while speaking with the press also gave examples of how opposition parties are getting “unequal treatment”. “BJP MLA Vikram Saini and MP Kankariya never faced such immediate action which Rahul Gandhi and Sunil Kedar had faced. I think that a debate should happen on this issue in Parliament,” he said.
The magistrate’s court sentenced Sunil Kedar and five others to five years’ rigorous imprisonment and also fined them about Rs 10 lakh each. As per the prosecution, the NDCCB lost nearly Rs 150 crore in government securities in 2002 as rules were violated while investing funds through private entities. Sunil Kedar was then chairman of the bank.
Patil also spoke on the MLAs’ suspension issue, which has been pending with the Maharashtra assembly speaker. “The apex court has shown its displeasure over the pendency of the Shiv Sena MLAs’ disqualification case. No action so far has been taken in this case by the speaker,” he said.
The ruling Shiv Sena rejected this criticism by the Congress. Party spokesperson Arun Sawant said, “All are equal in front of the law and there is no unequal treatment given to anyone. If we see the case of Sunil Kedar, it’s a 20-year-old matter. So he had ample time, in which he couldn’t prove that he was not guilty. When this fraud happened, Kedar was chairman of that bank, which had taken deposits from small and marginal farmers but didn’t repay them. The Congress party, which says it is with farmers and the common man, should have asked Sunil Kedar to return all the money that was taken from them. We all should respect the law. In this case too, Sunil Kedar has an opportunity to appeal in the higher court.”
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