Ahead of the local body polls tomorrow in Maharashtra, the congress has found itself in an embarrassing position after Congress MLA and son of the President Pratibha Patil Mr Raosaheb Shekhawat announced that the amount of 1 Cr seized on Sunday by the police from his car was meant for distribution among the financially weak congress candidates contesting the civic polls.

Police, acting on a tip off, seized the cash from a car in Mumbai on Sunday and found that the unaccounted money was being transported from Nagpur. Police have arrested two persons in the connection and found that the car belonged to the President’s son.

Shekhawat said he sought the money from the PCC for distributing it among 87 congress candidates as most of them are poor and women. “We thought of distributing the money at the rate of Rs.1 lakh each. The rest of the amount would go the DCC,” he said.

He said he would collect the money from the Police Commissioner’s office later after submitting required letters to substantiate his claim.

Meanwhile, the BJP has alleged that the Congress has been distributing the money to buy voters in the elections and threatened to lodge a complaint to the Election Commission. The Election Commission has already ordered an inquiry into the incident. (JUBS)