With tensions continuing to run high within partners of the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) over the ceding of the Sangli Lok Sabha seat to Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT), top leaders of the Maharashtra Congress on Thursday including MPCC chief Nana Patole, former CM Prithviraj Chavan, and ex-Minister Balasaheb Thorat held a conclave to pacify the party’s restive cadre in western Maharashtra.
The Thackeray group’s intransigence over contesting the Sangli seat, a Congress bastion for half-a-century since Independence, had provoked intense resentment among the Congress cadre in Sangli which refused to campaign for political neophyte Chandrahar Patil, a wrestler who was fielded by the Sena (UBT).
The move caused the Congress’ aspirant for Sangli, Vishal Patil - the grandson of late Maharashtra CM and stalwart Congressman Vasantdada Patil - to rebel and contest as an Independent. This has set alarm bells ringing within the MVA with its leadership wondering whether the already demoralised Congress cadre in Sangli would campaign wholeheartedly for Chandrahar Patil or not.
Addressing the conclave, Vishwajeet Kadam, the MLA of Palus-Kadegaon (in Sangli) and the chief promoter of Vishal Patil for the seat, warned Mr. Thackeray’s Sena (UBT) that while the Congress cadre would work to garner votes for the MVA’s candidate (Chandrahar Patil), the Sena (UBT) should not expect anything (in terms of seats) in the Maharashtra Assembly election later this year.
Feelings ran high among Congress workers as Mr. Kadam, who had fought tooth and nail to ensure Vishal Patil got a ticket, gave vent to the seething resentment among the cadre against the Sena (UBT).
“For nearly a year, it was certain Vishal Patil would be the candidate and our leaders at the State level had even conveyed the same to the Congress high command. However, things started to go wrong in the past few weeks when Uddhav Thackeray came to Sangli and unilaterally staked claim on this seat. Does this ever happen in a democracy? Should not the Thackeray faction at least have taken us into confidence? I maintain it was a mistake to give them the seat,” Mr. Kadam said.
While reluctantly agreeing to comply with “coalition dharma”, Mr. Kadam said the Thackeray Sena ought to understand that all the votes won by the MVA candidate in Sangli would be Congress votes. Of the six Assembly segments that make up the Sangli constituency, the Sena (UBT) has no presence in a single one of them.
In a bid to pacify the upset workers, Balasaheb Thorat said that seat-sharing discussions pertaining to Sangli had reached such an extreme point that the future of the MVA and the INDIA alliance was at stake.
“The discussions [between the MVA allies] over the first 30 Lok Sabha seats went of smoothly. But the remaining 18, especially the last three seats and particularly Sangli, took three months to resolve,” Mr. Thorat said.
He said that the Sena (UBT) remained adamant on giving the seat to the Congress, stating that as the Congress had been given Kolhapur, the Thackeray Sena ought to be given Sangli.
“This was despite us repeatedly telling them that the Sangli seat has been a traditional Congress bastion,” Mr. Thorat said, lauding Mr. Kadam’s frantic efforts to secure Sangli for the Congress.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Chavan candidly admitted that had the 2019 Lok Sabha election for the Congress turned out differently, then the party would not have had to enter into any coalitions.
“Unfortunately, we have had to pay the cost of entering into alliances with the other parties knowing that we would have to settle for a less share of seats. It is regrettable that this cost has to be borne by the loss of Sangli,” Mr. Chavan said, adding that everyone in Delhi, be it Sonia Gandhi or Rahul Gandhi, was aware of the feelings of disappointment within the Sangli Congress unit.
While sympathising with the cadre, Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole and the senior leaders urged the cadre to nonetheless work to ensure the victory of the MVA’s candidate in order to keep the BJP out of power.
