Congress seeks to placate Sharad Pawar post anger over Nana Patole's remarks: Sources

Amid the unease in MVA, a group of senior Congress leaders called on NCP president Sharad Pawar at his Silver Oak residence in Mumbai on Tuesday evening. Maharashtra Congress in-charge HK Patil, PWD Minister Ashok Chavan and Revenue Minister Ashok Chavan assured Pawar that Nana Patole's statements won't be repeated, sources told ANI. This comes amid speculation that many MVA leaders are angry at the Maharashtra Congress chief's remarks which are seen as an attack on allies NCP and Shiv Sena. Conceding that he was "not invited" to the meeting, he contended that only the proposed agitation against BJP over the OBC reservation issue came under discussion. 

Nana Patole's statements irk allies

Nana Patole was the first sitting BJP Lok Sabha MP after 2014 to quit the party citing unhappiness with PM Modi's style of functioning. While he lost the 2019 Lok Sabha election on a Congress ticket to Nitin Gadkari, he got elected to the Maharashtra Assembly from Sakoli in the Bhandara district. While he was elected as the Assembly Speaker, he resigned from the post on February 4 this year to become the president of Congress' Maharashtra unit. 

Signalling Congress' growing discomfort in MVA, the Sakoli MLA has repeatedly asserted in the last few months that his party will win a majority on its own in the next Assembly election. Stressing that many people are miffed over the Sonia Gandhi-led party's "growing influence" in the state, he has also claimed that Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar are tracking his moves. On Wednesday, Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana took a swipe at Patole over these remarks.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut opined, "He took up the responsibility of giving a boost to the Maharashtra Congress and ensure that Congress comes to power on its own. That's why I must commend his courage. Nana Patole is going to revitalize Congress and take it forward because he has a magic herb or knowledge. Has he given information about this magic herb to either Rahul Gandhi or Priyanka Gandhi?" 

Speaking to the media a day earlier, Patole fired a veiled barb at NCP once again. He stated, "We (Congress) were cheated in 2014 (polls). We are now preparing for the next Lok Sabha elections keeping that in mind". This was a reference to NCP's decision to resign from the Maharashtra government in 2014 and extend "unconditional support" to BJP to form a government "in the interest and development of Maharashtra".