Putting speculation to rest, the Congress on Friday appointed senior leader Nana Patole as the Maharashtra Congress president, a day after he quit as Speaker. He will take over from Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat, who steered the party in tumultuous times of the 2019 general and Assembly polls.
Mr. Patole has been given a jumbo team of six working presidents, 10 vice-presidents, and a parliamentary board of 37 members. The working presidents are Shivajirao Moghe, former minister from Vidarbha; Basavraj Patil, former MLA from Latur in Marathawada; Mohamed Arif Naseem Khan, former MLA from Mumbai; Kunal Patil, MLA from Dhule district in north Maharashtra; Chadrakant Handore, former MLA and Dalit leader from Mumbai; and Praniti Shinde, MLA from Solapur district in western Maharashtra.
Mr. Patole said, “I am thankful for the responsibility bestowed upon me. The big team also means I no longer will face any difficulty on the organisational front. My sole aim would be to focus on making the Congress the number one party in the State.” He said the party requires an organisational rejig with a focus on districts and local bodies where it has no or minimum representation. “The Congress has its presence in every village, town of Maharashtra. We need to rejuvenate the party and that will be my task,” he said.
‘Lessons learnt’
On the Congress dropping to the number four spot in the State after being in control for a considerable period since Independence, Mr. Patole said the party had learnt from its mistakes. “You cannot be on top every time. There will be a period when you are forced to go on the back foot. We have analysed our mistakes and are ready to rectify them,” he said.
On infighting in the party and opposition to his nomination, he said the Congress was the only party where democracy was practised. “We have the right to voice opinion and it is not groupism. Those who wanted to become president are free to have that feeling. There is nothing wrong in it,” he said.
Mr. Patole, however, cautiously reacted when asked if the Speaker’s post would remain with the Congress. “Leaders of the three parties [Congress, NCP and Shiv Sena] — Sonia Gandhi, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray — will take a decision. We will follow what is decided,” he said. NCP chief Mr. Pawar on Thursday said the post is open and a decision will be taken after discussions within the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
Not discarding the possibility of the government having a second Deputy Chief Minister from the Congress, Mr. Patole said the demand made by Congress leaders like Manikrao Thakre was their personal opinion. “But there is nothing wrong for a leader to think good and big for the party,” he added.
Mr. Patole, a farmer leader from the OBC community in Vidarbha, quit the Congress claiming that the then Congress-NCP government was not in favour of farmers’ interests. In 2014, he contested the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket and won from Bhandara-Gondiya. He resigned alleging dictatorial behaviour by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and rejoined the Congress. He fought the 2019 general polls from Nagpur against Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, but lost. He contested the Assembly poll against ex-CM Devendra Fadnavis’s blue-eyed boy, Parinay Fukey, and emerged victorious.