Eyebrows were raised within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners after Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Nana Patole, even before his formal announcement as the state Congress chief, gave a call to go solo to get a majority for the party and regain its past glory. Patole’s statement comes when Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress are partners in the state government. Early this week, they claimed that together they have won almost 80% of the 12,711 gram panchayats in the elections held on January 15.
The MVA partners reiterated that they have joined hands to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) at bay and the government will stay in power for the next 25 years.
Patole’s ‘ekla chalo’ announcement comes close on the heels of the Mumbai Regional Congress Committee’s newly appointed president Bhai Jagtap’s call for contesting 227 wards alone in the ensuing BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections. His call coincided with the raging controversy over renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv. Shiv Sena has been strongly making a case to rename these places, while Congress has opposed it, saying that it was not a part of the MVA’s common minimum programme.
Patole has been a top contender for the post of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president, as the incumbent Balasaheb Thorat, who is also the revenue minister, has offered to step down. Patole said, “The Congress will work hard to assume power on its own by successfully fulfilling the responsibility given to it.’’ He, however, said the Congress party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi and former president Rahul Gandhi will select the new president.
“Upon getting the new responsibility, I will strive to get the party elected on its own to assume power in Maharashtra,” he noted. Even though none of the Congress ministers or senior leaders offered official comment on Patole’s statement, they in private conversation said for the moment the party is sharing power with Shiv Sena and NCP and it will collectively decide the future course of action.
Patole’s unilateral announcement may come up for discussion during the coordination meeting of the ruling partners slated for next week.
