Third Eye: Not at all surprised, Celebration in the muck, Next course of action

Congress leadership was disappointed but not surprised with some party MLAs crossvoting during Friday's Maharashtra Legislative Council election. According to party leaders, most of these MLAs are loyalists of erstwhile Congress veterans Ashok Chavan and Baba Siddiqui, who quit to join BJP and NCP, respectively, before LS polls. Many of these MLAs are expected to quit Congress close to assembly polls as they have stayed back so far only to save their House membership.

Jayant Patil of Peasants and Workers Party, who lost the Maharashtra Legislative Council election after the Opposition benches crossvoted for the ruling side, claimed that the entire legislature was upset over his loss. But not so Alibaug Shiv Sena MLA Mahendra Dalvi, his political rival, who could not hide his happiness. Dalvi and his supporters were seen rolling in the muck to celebrate Patil’s loss and were ironically shouting slogans such as ‘humse jo takrayega mitti main mil jayega’.

Amid spotlight over the cancellation of UGC-NET and delay in publishing CUET results, the higher education regulator University Grants Commission has its hands full ahead of a full commission meeting later this month. While the commission has held some informal discussion on the issues, the meeting will be one to watch out for, especially the future course of action.