Part of MVA till 2024 but alliance not permanent: Nana Patole

“The Congress will remain with Uddhav Thackeray for five years. The promise has been made by none other than Sonia Gandhiji,” Nana Patole, state Congress chief, told reporters in Pune.

A day after the Maharashtra chief minister’s remark that people will “beat with footwear” those who talk of contesting assembly polls alone, the state Congress chief Nana Patole on Sunday clarified that it “will continue to be part of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition” till the five-year tenure is completed, adding that MVA is not a “permanent arrangement”.

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole said that Uddhav Thackeray didn’t name any party and he would respond if that is cleared. (HT PHOTO) (HT_PRINT)

“The Congress will remain with Uddhav Thackeray for five years. The promise has been made by none other than Sonia Gandhiji,” Nana Patole, state Congress chief, told reporters in Pune. “...Sonia Gandhi’s stand to be a part of the MVA was to prevent the BJP from coming to power (in 2019) . However, it had no mention that we are permanent in alliance,” he added.

Addressing Shiv Sena’s 55th foundation day on Saturday, Thackeray said, “If we do not offer solutions to people’s problems but only talk about going it alone in politics, people will beat us with footwear...” Though he chose not to name anyone, the remarks made clear that he was not happy with the stand taken by the Congress state unit.

Patole said that Thackeray didn’t name any party and he would respond if that is cleared.

Meanwhile, the Nationalist Congress Party insisted that the three allies — Sena, NCP and Congress — are together and will contest polls as an alliance.