Maharashtra Congress chief Patole 'quits', party denies

Mumbai (The Uttam Hindu): Political circles were agog with speculation of Maharashtra Congress President Nana F. Patole's resignation after the state poll debacle, but a party official has flatly denied any such developments, here on Monday. "The news of the purported resignation being circulated in sections of the media is baseless, mischievous and misleading, and no such thing has taken place presently," said the official declining to be identified. Since Sunday evening, the party faction leaders have been discussing in hushed tones that Patole was likely to quit after meeting Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge and Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi on Monday.

However, the meeting has still not materialised and some leaders maintained that Patole has submitted his resignation letter which is pending acceptance. Under fire from the party and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (SP), Patole is understood to have taken full "moral responsibility" for the miserable performance in the just concluded state Assembly elections. Incidentally, he himself barely scraped through with a 208-vote margin over his nearest BJP rival, and many seniors like ex-CM Prithviraj Chavan and Congress Legislature Party Leader Vijay Balasaheb Thorat were vanquished in their strongholds.

The MVA rout - barely six months after a spectacular show in the Lok Sabha 2024 elections - has shaken the state party's core and fueled the resignation grapevine though officially it has been denied. The dazed MVA allies have attributed various general factors leading to the debacle and they would meet to sit and analyse it threadbare to pinpoint the specifics where they failed to meet the peoples’ expectations and exploit the goodwill generated by the LS wins vis-à-vis the MahaYuti of Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Nationalist Congress Party.

Most top leaders of the three parties have already expressed doubts of some ‘gadbad’ (mess) that may have taken place which delivered a cruel blow to known down the high-flying MVA that was hoping to oust the MahaYuti. However, there are no reports of possible resignations from any other MVA leaders as of now though the unpredictable situation may change anytime, said a dejected leader.