Nana Patole replaces Maharashtra Revenue Min Balasaheb Thorat as state Congress president

A day after he resigned as Assembly Speaker, Nana Patole was appointed as Maharashtra Congress president by party chief Sonia Gandhi on Friday. He replaces Maharashtra Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat who h earlier offered to step down. rejig in state Congress unit comes amid  perception that it has yielded a lot of political  to NCP and Shiv Sena since becoming a part of Maha Vikas Aghi in state. In 2017, Patole was one of first sitting BJP Lok Sabha MPs to quit party citing unhappiness with PM Modi's style of functioning. While he lost 2019 Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket to Nitin Gkari, he got elected to Maharashtra Assembly from Sakoli in Bhandara district.   

In ar appointments to Maharashtra Congress, 6 working presidents and 10 vice presidents have been named. Former Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter Praniti and ex-Rajya Sabha MP Husain Dalwai will serve as working president and vice president respectively. Moreover, Congress president also appointed a new Parliamentary Board and a Strategy, Screening and Coordination Committee to shape alliance strategy and select candidates for upcoming local body polls.  

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Disgruntlement in Congress

Despite winning a comfortable majority of its own in 2019 Assembly election, NDA could t form government in 2019 over Shiv Sena's demand for rotational CM post. After imposition of President's Rule in State, BJP took a surprising step of joining hands with NCP's Ajit Pawar, who h reportedly promised support of or legislators. However, new Fnavis-led government h to resign ahe of SC-mandated floor test owing to paucity of numbers. Subsequently, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray took oath as CM of Maharashtra backed by new allies NCP and Congress on vember 28, 2019.

In last few months, multiple Congress leers including Balasaheb Thorat have expressed ir concerns over ir party being neglected in coalition government. In May 2020, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi h publicly stated that Congress was t key decision-maker in Maharashtra. Recently, Congress has locked horns with Shiv Sena over its suggestion that Shar Pawar should replace Sonia Gandhi as UPA chairperson and demand to rename Aurangab. On multiple occasions, Congress has me it clear that it would t hesitate to quit Maharashtra government if anyone speaks against its leership. 

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