MVA will win close to 40 seats in Maharashtra: Nana Patole

In an interview with Hindustan Times, the Maharashtra Congress chief also reacted to the recent speculation that the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) would merge with the Congress

Nana Patole has a herculean and rather unenviable task ahead of him. As the head of the Congress party’s Maharashtra unit, the 60-year-old has to ensure the party recovers a fair amount of lost ground in a state where it won just one seat in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

Mumbai, India - Aug. 17, 2023: Congress leader Nana Patole along with Chandrakant Handore, addressing to media during the press conference at Tilak Bhavan, in Mumbai, India, on Thursday, August 17, 2023. (Photo by Anshuman Poyrekar/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

So far, it hasn’t quite been smooth sailing. Patole was recently in the midst of controversy after several Congress leaders felt the party got a raw deal in the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s (MVA’s) seat-sharing arrangement. However, in an interview with HT’s Faisal Malik, Patole was confident that the MVA would win close to 40 out of the 48 seats in Maharashtra.

Patole said the Shiv Sena (UBT) would win more seats than the Congress because it is contesting more seats. He believes the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) is helping the ruling Mahayuti alliance by dividing the anti-BJP votes. He also reacted to the recent speculation that the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) would merge with the Congress.

Excerpts:

How many seats is Congress expecting to win in Maharashtra?

Congress will emerge as the biggest party in the country. The INDIA alliance is coming to power and the BJP is not crossing more than 150 seats. The people have started believing that Rahul Gandhi, who travelled across the country, is the nayak (hero) who can bring change. Even in Maharashtra, MVA candidates are getting a very good response. Congress is winning around 14 to 15 seats [out of the 17 it is contesting]. The total tally of MVA will reach close to 40 seats. Since Shiv Sena (UBT) is contesting more seats (21 out of 48), they will have more MPs than us, but the Congress is performing very well.

What are the factors you think are working in your favour?

Farmers are very angry, and so are the youth. The poor and middle class are also not happy with this government. You will find discontent even among government employees. In all, no factor is in their favour. Hence, they are trying to polarise the polls, which is also not working as both Hindus and Muslims have realised the fact that the BJP’s objective is to get votes for them and nothing else.

Shiv Sena (UBT) refused to concede your traditional seats, be it Sangli or Mumbai South Central. Your colleagues think the party got a raw deal.

Ans: Whatever the reason, we put the issue behind us the day we declared our seat-sharing formula. It was our duty to save the country’s democracy and Constitution, as Congress is a national party. We wanted to avoid division of votes and thus chose to take everyone along. The allies of Mahayuti are fighting against each other even today, whereas us MVA allies have put up a united front.

A tussle within the MVA also resulted in Vishal Patil’s rebellion in Sangli, who is contesting as an independent candidate. Shiv Sena (UBT) is upset that Congress chose not to take any action against him.

Our party has extended full support to the MVA candidate (Shiv Sena UBT’s Chandrahar Patil) but cannot force people to vote for someone. The state Congress unit had recommended action against Vishal Patil for his rebellion. No order from the Congress leadership has come yet. Since elections in Sangli are over, the issue is also over for us.

In Sangli, it is being alleged that NCP (SP)’s Jayant Patil misguided Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. You also indicated the same while addressing party workers in a meeting on April 25.

I have not named anyone but had said that we will ward off the evil eye from the Sangli Congress unit.

There is a concern that the Congress may have to face similar arm-twisting by its allies during the upcoming assembly elections? Your comments?

For the first time, I got trapped in a maze with the Sangli seat but I know how to come out of it. While addressing party workers in Sangli, I have also indicated what I am planning to do. In politics, we don’t need to spell everything out in public.

Why did you not contest the polls from the Bhandara-Gondiya constituency? You would have ensured victory in that seat as the party leadership was also keen to field you.

We are winning Bhandara-Gondiya with the highest number of votes among all the seats that went to polling in the first phase of elections. Being Maharashtra [Congress] president, it was my responsibility to fight not for myself but for the party. My stand was accepted by the leadership.

We are not only winning Bhandara-Gondiya but other seats in Vidarbha as well. We are also winning seats such as Nanded, Latur, Solapur, and Kolhapur, among others. For Pune, I have deployed 10 Congress MLAs to mobilise and coordinate the cadre and the people as they want to vote, and we did not want to take any chances. I have adopted the same strategy for Nandurbar and other seats.

Why do you think VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar did not join MVA?

Prakash Ambedkar has repeated what he had done in the 2014 and 2019 polls. It is the BJP who got the benefit because of the division of secular votes. People can see it clearly. Even the followers of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar realised this and decided to stand with MVA in this election. I don’t have to say everything. The people are smart enough to understand.

The Congress chose not to have a single Muslim candidate in Maharashtra. Is it so difficult to get a Muslim MP elected in Maharashtra?

We don’t distribute election tickets based on religious identity. It is being done based on the local equations and winnablity. No one appreciated us when Congress elected a Rajya Sabha member and MLC from the Muslim community. We are fighting to win and to save the Constitution. As far as candidates from backward classes are concerned, we have to give them candidature as seven seats are reserved for them.

There is speculation that NCP (SP) will merge with Congress. Is it possible?

Rahulji [Gandhi] also told me that several regional parties are keen to merge with Congress. We will welcome them all with open arms. Discussions about it are ongoing in Delhi.

My question is specifically about NCP(SP).

It is a faction and not a party at present, whereas I was talking about regional parties. Sharad Pawar saheb himself says that they are a gat (faction). There are many factions who want to merge with Congress.