Maha Cong chief raises doubts over identity of Saif Ali Khan’s attacker
Patole also highlighted how the police had earlier detained two lookalikes but released them later.
Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole met Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, in Delhi on Monday and sources here have indicated that the party is likely to replace him as Maharashtra Congress chief with a younger face, taking election-related caste arithmetic into consideration.
According to Congress sources, party MLA and former minister Amit Deshmukh, MLC Satej Patil, former minister Nitin Raut and a few other names are being considered for the post of state Congress president.
Advertisement
It is learnt that Satej Patil is likely to be the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra state legislative council while Congress MLA Vijay Wadettiwar may be appointed as Congress legislative party leader in the state assembly. However, no decision has been taken yet, sources said.
Advertisement
Nana Patole is from the Other Backward Caste (OBC) community and he is likely to be replaced with a strong Maratha face, since Marathas, Dalits, Muslims and tribals have been Congress voters in Maharashtra. These communities voted for the Congress in the Lok Sabha elections, which led to the party winning 13 Lok Sabha seats, Congress sources said.
Despite the Lok Sabha performance, the party suffered a setback in the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections because a huge number of votes of the Maratha, Dalit, Muslim and tribal voters got divided and shifted to the BJP, Congress sources said.
Additionally, the OBC communities voted en masse for the BJP due to which the Congress was routed after the 2024 Maharashtra assembly elections. Since elections to the local civic bodies will be held in four months, the Congress leadership is keen to ensure that what happened in the assembly elections does not repeat during the local body polls, Congress sources said.
Advertisement
