Nana Patole, the MP who rebelled against Modi, is MVA’s pick for Maha Speaker

Fifty-six-year-old Congress MLA from Sakoli, in the backward Bhandara district, Nana Patole, is likely to take over as the Speaker of the legislative Assembly on

Fifty-six-year-old Congress MLA from Sakoli, in the backward Bhandara district, Nana Patole, is likely to take over as the Speaker of the legislative Assembly on Sunday. After the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) won the confidence vote on Saturday, it is assumed that the Speaker’s election will be in favour of the alliance nominee — Patole.

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The Sakoli MLA, was perhaps the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP to speak up openly against the Narenda Modi government’s policies on farmers within just a few months of having been elected in 2014. He began his political career as a student leader in the mid-1980s and was a district council member from 1992 to 1997. A four-term MLA, Patole had joined the BJP in 2009, ahead of the Assembly polls and won from Sakoli. Before that, he had served two terms as a Congress MLA, by winning the Assembly polls in 1999 and 2004.

Patole resigned from the BJP in December 2017 by openly criticising the Modi government for its “anti-farmer” policies. He then joined the Congress in the presence of the then party chief Rahul Gandhi, and was made the chief of the party’s Kisan Congress. Patole, who hails from the dominant Kunbi community, which comes under Other Backward Classes, was fielded against BJP’s heavyweight leader, Nitin Gadkari, in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The Congress’s decision to nominate Patole for the Speaker’s post could be an attempt to maintain a regional and social balance. “Patole is the bête noire of BJP’s Vidarbha leaders, including Devendra Fadnavis, and his election to the post will help the government keep a tab on the Opposition. The Speaker’s post is very important for the government in the wake of the possibility of a split within the three ruling parties in future,” said a senior Congress leader.

“I am confident about my victory as the three-party nominee. I will continue to work in the interest of farmers even after becoming the Speaker,” Patole said.