The senior Congress leader and former MPCC chief Ranjit Deshmukh on Tuesday demanded a change in the state party leadership before the ensuing 2014 elections.
Deshmukh insisted that the MPCC chief Manikrao Thakre should be removed from the post immediately and a senior party leader either from backward Vidarbha or Marathwada be nominated for the post.
The former MPCC chief said he would meet the party chief Sonia Gandhi and the vice president Rahul Gandhi in this regard soon.
There is a need to change the leadership of PCC before the 2014 general elections, if the party wants to get maximum seats from the state, he felt.
Lashing out at Thakre, the senior Congress leader said that Thakre miserably failed to lead the party in the state that led to the NCP for making inroads into the Congress bastions in last local-self bodies' elections.
Answering a question, Deshmukh said that the former union minister and the AICC general secretary Vilas Muttemwar would be a better choice for the post. Muttemwar represents Nagpur parliamentary constituency.
However, he insisted that the Congress should make an electoral alliance with the NCP in the interest of the party and for better results in the state.
He disagreed with the views of the Congress MPs from Maharashtra that instead of fully relying on the NCP, the Congress should be ready to contest all the seats in the state.
{{/usCountry}}He disagreed with the views of the Congress MPs from Maharashtra that instead of fully relying on the NCP, the Congress should be ready to contest all the seats in the state.
{{/usCountry}}The alliance between the Congress and NCP is in the state since 1999 just a few months after Sharad Pawar parted ways with the Congress on the issue of foreign origin of Sonia Gandhi. The two parties are sharing power at the centre as well as in the state.