Thorat writes to party chief and Sonia against state prez Patole

Earlier, Thorat’s nephew Satyajeet Tambe, who rebelled against the party decision to not field him and successfully contested the council election as an independent candidate, blamed Patole for conspiring against his family. On Sunday, Thorat trained his guns on Patole, saying he was responsible for the party denying a ticket to Satyajeet from the Nashik graduates’ constituency

Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole appears to be in trouble. A day after openly hitting out at him, Balasaheb Thorat, leader of party’s legislative unit, has written to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge and Sonia Gandhi, expressing anguish about Patole’s style of functioning.

Thorat writes to party chief and Sonia against state prez Patole

Earlier, Thorat’s nephew Satyajeet Tambe, who rebelled against the party decision to not field him and successfully contested the council election as an independent candidate, blamed Patole for conspiring against his family. On Sunday, Thorat trained his guns on Patole, saying he was responsible for the party denying a ticket to Satyajeet from the Nashik graduates’ constituency.

On Monday, Thorat declared that he had written to the party leadership on the issue. “The party was reeling with internal politics in the council elections. Instead of sorting it out, it escalated and I was insulted. Not only this, public statements were made against my family, and we were humiliated. Action was also taken against workers from Ahmednagar without taking me into confidence,” Thorat is believed to have said in the letter.

Several other Congress leaders too have started questioning Patole’s decisions and his style of functioning, and have reportedly communicated their displeasure to the party leadership. Pointing out that Satyajeet was not the only one denied a ticket, they alleged that Patole did not want to field Sudhakar Adbale either, and had supported Gangadhar Nakade of the Shiv Sena (UBT) instead, ignoring the demand of local Congress leaders.

“We had to fight with Patole to ensure that the party contested Adbale,” said a senior Congress leader. “We made him change his decision, and finally Adbale was declared the MVA candidate.”

Eventually, Adbale won the seat in the RSS’s own backyard by a margin of 8,489 votes against BJP candidate Nago Ganar. His victory in Nagpur was also seen as a big setback for the BJP, as it is the hometown of deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Party leaders also said that Patole did much the same in the legislative council elections in December 2021. Against the advice of local leaders, he decided to nominate Ravindra Bhoyar, who was the then sitting BJP corporator and was considered a staunch RSS supporter. Bhoyar had joined the Congress to contest against BJP leader Chandrashekhar Bawankule, but a day before the polls he expressed his inability to contest. The Congress had to face the embarrassment of declaring support to independent candidate Mangesh Deshmukh by issuing a letter.

Congressmen say that Patole works in isolation, which has miffed almost all the senior leaders in the party. “He was expected to build up a new leadership by giving opportunities to new faces but he is doing just the opposite,” said a senior leader. “We hope the party leadership considers our complaints seriously and takes immediate action. If the Congress has to make a comeback, Maharashtra is important. As such, the party leadership needs to attend to the problem before it gets out of hand.”

Former Congress minister Vijay Wadettiwar stressed on the need for an internal discussion on the goings-on in the party. “I don’t want to say much but we will be discussing this in the party forum,” he said.

On his part, Patole told reporters on Monday that he would be able to react only if knew what was in Thorat’s letter. “I believe he has not written any such letter,” he told HT. “All issues related to the election will be discussed in the party meeting on February 13. This is within the family.”

Patole, a four-time legislator from Bhandara, is seen as an aggressive leader from the Vidarbha region, an erstwhile Congress stronghold where the party faces strong competition from the BJP. He comes from the Kunbi community, which has a significant presence in the region.

Before being appointed as state Congress chief, Patole was the Speaker in the state assembly. Ahead of the 2014 general elections, he quit the Congress to contest as a BJP candidate from the Bhandara-Gondia constituency and won the polls against the then Union minister Praful Patel by 1,49,254 votes. He came back to the party fold in 2018.

Congress spokesperson Hemlata Patil said that there is a confusion among workers about who is right and who is wrong and the infighting would impact party’s performance in the upcoming local body election. “If this is the situation, how would we be able to fight with our political opponents? Local body elections are ahead and how we would be able to contest them if we are facing factionalism,” she commented.