Maharashtra: Balasaheb Thorat resigns as Congress Legislature Party chief after rift with Nana Patole

 

Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday resigned as the state legislature party chief, a day after his letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge surfaced over alleged rift with state unit chief Nana Patole. Party sources gave this information.

Thorat's resignation came a day after he wrote to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, expressing his inability to work with unit chief Nana Patole because of his "anger" towards him.

According to sources, Thorat has sent his resignation to the party high command.

He is the maternal uncle of Congress leader Satyajit Tambe, who recently won the Legislative Council election from the Nashik Division graduate constituency as an independent candidate.

Thorat is a staunch Congress loyalist and has previously served as the party's state president, besides holding several key ministerial portfolios. An aide of Thorat had said that the Congress leader had written to the party high command expressing his inability to work with Patole because of Patole's "anger" towards him.

Thorat also said that he was not being consulted before taking the decision, the aide said.

The matter came to light days after Thorat's brother-in-law and the then Nashik graduate MLC Sudhir Tambe refused to contest the elections despite being the official candidate of the Congress.

His son Satyajit Tambe then contested and won the election as an independent, the results of which were announced on 2 February.

Sources said that while the episode caused embarrassment to the Congress, the silence of Thorat, who is recovering from a shoulder injury, was seen as tacit support for the Tambe father-son duo.