E-Paper
Thorat resigns as Congress legislative party leader, cites differences with Patole in letter to Kharge
Balasaheb Thorat has stepped down as Congress legislative party leader, intensifying the tussle with state unit chief Nana Patole who he has accused of sabotaging the candidature of his nephew Satyajeet Tambe in the legislative council elections
Prefer HTon Google
Balasaheb Thorat has stepped down as Congress legislative party leader, intensifying the tussle with state unit chief Nana Patole who he has accused of sabotaging the candidature of his nephew Satyajeet Tambe in the legislative council elections.
In a letter sent to party president Mallikarjun Kharge on February 2, Thorat informed him of his decision, a leader close to the latter said.
“Thorat has clearly stated that it is difficult for him to work with Patole owing to the hatred the latter has towards him and his family. He will continue to work for the party and is ready to accept any responsibility at a later stage,” the leader, who refused to be named, said.
Patole’s dislike towards the Thorat family could be seen from the fact that he had sent wrong A and B forms for Tambe in the council polls, he said. “Despite requesting for the party’s support, and Tambe’s preparedness to tender a public apology (for filing nomination as an independent), first his father Sudhir Tambe and later, he was suspended.”
On Tuesday, it was Thorat’s birthday and among those who telephoned him to extend their wishes was leader of opposition Ajit Pawar.
“I told him that I heard about his resignation, but I was not sure whether it would be appropriate to ask him about it. To this, he said he had resigned from the position. He also said it was an internal matter and a further decision would be taken after discussing it internally,” Pawar told reporters.
Former chief minister and Congress leader Ashok Chavan called the development unfortunate. “Thorat is a senior and patient leader of the party, and it is unfortunate if he has resigned from the post.”
Patole denied having received Thorat’s resignation. “He is not in touch because he has not been keeping well (recovering from joint fractures in the right shoulder) for some time.”
Meanwhile, H K Patil, All India Congress Committee in-charge of Maharashtra, who was in Karnataka, has left for Delhi to brief the central leadership on the issue. “I have no idea that Thorat has resigned as legislative party leader.”
With Thorat’s aggressive stand, the party top brass will now have to act on his demand of Patole’s removal from the post of state Congress president. However, it seems unlikely at the moment, a senior leader said.
“Patole belongs to Kunbi community in Vidarbha region. The party’s revival in Maharashtra largely depends on its performance in Vidarbha which was once its stronghold and Kunbi community could play an important role in it. Since the 2019 elections, there are indications that Kunbis are unhappy with BJP,” the leader said. Besides, the opinion of other senior leaders such as former chief ministers Ashok Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan and Sushilkumar Shinde would be important, he added.
Patole has called an executive committee meeting on February 15 to decide on the party’s strategy for the upcoming polls.
Thorat was appointed as legislative party leader in June 2019 after then opposition leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil joined BJP ahead of the assembly elections. The same year in July, Thorat was also appointed as state Congress president, and he continued in the post till February 2021.
Thorat, who was a revenue minister in Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, has alleged that Patole deliberately fielded Satyajeet’s father Sudhir Tambe from Nashik teachers’ constituency even though the father-son duo had conveyed to the party that the son was interested in contesting the council polls. Soon after Satyajeet filed his nomination as an independent, Patole got the father-son duo suspended from the party, according to Thorat and Satyajeet.
Addressing the people of his constituency at Sangamner virtually on Sunday, Thorat said, “The internal politics within the party was distressing for me. Some people spread misinformation about us and even said we were joining BJP. We have been following the Congress ideology all our life and will continue to do so. I have informed the party leadership in Delhi about the entire episode and appropriate action will be taken.”
Why is Thorat important to Congress?
Thorat, 70, is an eight-term MLA from Sangamner in Ahmednagar district and is a prominent name in the sugar belt. Son of a freedom fighter and Congress leader late Bhausaheb Thorat, he was first elected as an independent after the party denied him the ticket, but he later returned to Congress. He was first made a minister in the Congress-NCP government in 1999. A trusted aide of late Vilasrao Deshmukh, Thorat became revenue minister in the government led by Prithviraj Chavan. He was one of the key people in the Congress team that handled the Gujarat assembly elections in 2017. He also played a role in the formation of MVA, a three-party coalition, which came to power after the 2019 elections. Thorat’s family shares cordial relations with NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
