Maharashtra: It was a mistake that Nana Patole resigned as Speaker without consulting says Ajit Pawar

Mumbai: In what may start a new wave of confrontation within the opposition alliance of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the Leader of Opposition in the state legislature, Ajit Pawar, on Friday said it was a mistake that Nana Patole resigned as speaker without consulting anyone within the alliance. Pawar levelled the serious allegation against the current state Congress president while speaking to the media in Pune.

Pawar said, “Patole resigned without consulting even then Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The information regarding the resignation was made available only after it was tendered.”

SC proved several things wrong: Pawar

“The Supreme Court has proved several things wrong, including the appointment of whip. Where did we make mistakes then?” Pawar asked while replying to questions on the SC verdict and added, “We needed to immediately resolve the issue by going in for the speaker’s election. Unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

The senior NCP leader further added that if they had an MVA leader as speaker in the house, all the 16 breakaway MLAs would have been disqualified there and then itself. 

“The post of Speaker lay vacant for a long time. After coming to power, Eknath Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis filled it with the majority they had. If we had filled the vacancy earlier, the 16 MLAs would have been disqualified,” Pawar said.