In what is being seen as a big blow to Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) President Nana Patole, the party high command has conveyed to him that all the decisions regarding seat sharing with allies in the state and the I.N.D.I.A. alliance membership etc will be made by the party high command. The party high command has also cancelled the party's list of members for the MVA coordination committee. A new list will be released soon, sources have said.
Process for formation of coordination committee for MVA allies gains pace
Patole had last week met Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray at his residence Matoshree after which the process for formation of the coordination committee for Maharashtra VIkas Aghadi (MVA) allies had gained pace. Earlier this week, the nine-member coordination committee too was announced. The Congress party was represented by former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, MPCC Working President Naseem Khan and MLA Basavraj Patil in the committee. However, not it appears as if the committee was appointed without consulting the senior party leadership in the state as well as the centre. The list was sent to the central leadership and the central leadership had called Matoshree to convey that the list of names given by the Congress as members of the committee is not final and a few changes are likely to be made in the list.
According to sources within the party, former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar were not taken into confidence while forming the coordination committee which has angered the two senior leaders and now the party high command has taken a stand to pacify these senior leaders. Some other state leaders too are not happy with the way this decision on the coordination committee was made. Hence, at least a couple of names in the existing list are likely to be replaced, sources said.
The party high command's decision to cancel the existing list has come as a blow to the state party leadership. The decision taken by the state leadership was quashed within 48 hours by the central leadership. It is also learnt that the state leadership was also reprimanded by the central leadership and was warned against repetition of any such feat again.
Goof up sends wrong signal to the electorate
While the opposition is considered to be in a good position in Maharashtra, the goof up of this kind at initial stage has also sent out a wrong signal to the electorate.Leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar, when asked to comment on the whole episode, said he doesn't want to discuss the issue. He however asserted that the decision pertaining to alliance is indeed a central leadership's prerogative.
