BJP has no moral authority to seek Prithviraj Chavan's resignation: Congress

Mumbai: Notwithstanding Congress' poor show in the Lok Sabha polls in the state, the MPCC on Sunday rejected BJP's demand for Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's resignation saying the rival party had "no right to meddle" in its affairs.

"The BJP-Shiv Sena government was in power in Maharashtra for five years. They lost other polls. The people of Maharashtra have elected us for five years. Why should we disrespect that mandate," MPCC spokesperson Basavraj Patil Nagralkar told PTI.

"What we do after these results is our party's internal matter. They have no right to meddle in our affairs," he said.

The reports on elections and political organisation would be placed before the Central Committee for discussion and adoption. Karat has already described the poll results in West Bengal as "distorted" due to the rigging and violence by the Trinamool Congress.

The CPI Central Secretariat also met here and had a preliminary review of the poll outcome. Those who attended the meeting included veteran leader A B Bardhan, party General Secretary S Sudhakar Reddy and National Secretary D Raja.

The party's National Council would also meet next month for a full discussion on the results and organisational issues.

On the poll results, Raja had said that BJP had taken full advantage of the anger of the people against Congress and its policies on one hand and the "complete absence" of a non- Congress, non-BJP alternative in the Lok Sabha polls on the other.

Both Karat and Raja have called for conducting of a serious introspection within their own parties as well as within the Left about the role they would play in the coming days, especially their numbers dwindling from 24 in the 15th Lok Sabha to ten now, rendering them virtually politically irrelevant in the House.