Speaker Nana Patole quits, tipped to be state Congress chief

Nana Patole. File pic/Suresh Karkera

Maharashtra Speaker Nana Patole has put in his papers. He is tipped to be the next state Congress president. The organisational change was being speculated for long and Patole has been a frontrunner for the prime post. His resignation came on Thursday following his meeting with party high command Rahul Gandhi early this week.

Patole confirmed the party's directive to quit the legislative position, but added that he hadn't received any directive about taking the state unit's charge which is now being held by Balasaheb Thorat, the revenue minister who also leads the party's legislative unit in the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Thorat had expressed his willingness to quit last month after the party initiated a digital opinion poll and intra-party meeting to zero in on a new face.

Patole is an aggressive leader who headed Congress' national cell for farmers. He said he would visit the agitating farmers in Delhi's neighbourhood. The MLA from eastern Vidarbha shares an intense past with the BJP which he represented in the Lok Sabha (elected in 2014), but resigned as the MP after running into Prime Minister Narendra Modi over socio-political issues. A subsequent by-election from his constituency Bhandara-Gondia gave the ruling BJP a jolt when it lost to the Nationalist Congress Party. Patole contested the Assembly polls in 2019 and made it to the Speaker's office in a new political arrangement.

More than meets the eye
Speculations were also rife that Patole's resignation would impact the MVA structure, because the Congress might use it as a bargain to make its presence stronger. Some said the Congress might even give up the Speaker's post to seek better positions like deputy chief minister. Another speculation is that, in addition to being state unit president, Patole would also want to be a minister.

While such speculations were made, the NCP boss Sharad Pawar said on Thursday that the speaker's resignation came because of internal pressure within the Congress. He said the Congress had discussed the decision with him before Patole resigned.

"Pressure within the Congress led to the decision (speaker's resignation). The post which is for all three parties (in the MVA) is open once again," said Pawar, but dismissed the news of Congress getting the DCM's post as baseless.

‘Mins unhappy with Patole'
Patole refused to react to Pawar's statement. A section in the Congress, however, said that not only their party ministers but those from the other two parties weren't very happy with Patole's style of functioning, that included holding meetings related to their departments and giving them unilateral directives.

"The party high command was informed about the situation and requested to divert Patole's energy towards party work instead of letting it disrupt the party's performance in the government," said a Congress leader. If the Congress decides to retain the post, former CM Prithviraj Chavan and Sangram Thopte are said to be the hot contenders for it.