Nana Patole resigns as Maharashtra Speaker; likely to take over as Cong state unit chief

In a big development in Maharashtra on Thursday, Assembly Speaker Nana Patole resigned from his position ahead of the commencement of the Budget Session. Speculation is rife that Patole will become the Maharashtra Congress president in place of Balasaheb Thorat who had earlier offered to step down. This comes amid the perception that the Maharashtra unit of Congress has yielded a lot of political space to NCP and Shiv Sena since becoming a part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the state.

Also, a section of the Maharashtra Congress was reportedly unhappy with the choice of state Cabinet picks and the portfolio allocation. Recently, a delegation of Congress Ministers headed by Thorat had met the party leadership in Delhi. In 2017, Patole was one of the first sitting BJP Lok Sabha MPs to quit the party citing unhappiness with PM Modi's style of functioning. While he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket to Nitin Gadkari, he got elected to the Maharashtra Assembly from Sakoli in Bhandara district. 

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Congress' disgruntlement in Maharashtra

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

In the last few months, multiple Congress leaders including Balasaheb Thorat have expressed their concerns over their party being neglected in the coalition government. In May 2020, former Congress president Rahul Gandhi had publicly stated that Congress was not the key decision-maker in Maharashtra. Recently, Congress has locked horns with Shiv Sena over its suggestion that Sharad Pawar should replace Sonia Gandhi as UPA chairperson and the demand to rename Aurangabad. On multiple occasions, Congress has made it clear that it would not hesitate to quit the Maharashtra government if anyone speaks against its leadership. 

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