It''s Patole vs Kathore for Maharashtra Speaker''s post

Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, November 30

Farm leader Nana Patole who won on a Congress ticket from the Sakoli assembly seat in Vidarbha is the Maha Vikas Aghadi’s candidate for the post of Speaker in the Maharashtra assembly.

Patole filed his nomination for the election which is due to be held on Sunday. The opposition BJP has nominated Kisan Kathore for the post.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi government headed by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray chose Patole after several candidates including former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan were rejected by the alliance partners, according to sources. 

Under the power-sharing deal between the three parties, the Congress would be given the post of Speaker and some key ministries in lieu of the post of Deputy Chief Minister, according to sources.

Patole, a former Congress leader, had joined the BJP and won from the Gondia parliamentary seat in 2014 after the NCP fielded Praful Patel from this seat. He, however, quit the BJP and resigned from his seat ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha issues over agrarian issues. Patole, who returned to the Congress, lost to the BJP’s Nitin Gadkari from the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat. He later won the assembly elections from Sarkoli seat. 

Congress party sources say the candidature of Patole is seen as an overture to the state’s farmers since he hails from the agrarian Kunbi caste. 

The Congress has, however, not given up on the post of Deputy Chief Minister and is still holding out by offering to compromise on some portfolios, party leaders say.

The Nationalist Congress Party, which is to have its Deputy Chief Minister under the power-sharing arrangement, is still holding talks among its leaders. Party sources say senior Ajit Pawar, who rebelled against his party to join as Deputy Chief Minister in Devendra Fadnavis’ 78-hour-old government before returning home, is in the race for the post.

NCP leaders Jayant Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal were sworn in along with Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday.

According to sources here, Thackeray is likely to expand his cabinet next week after the Speaker’s election. Though it has been broadly decided as to the portfolios to be allotted to various parties, leaders within the Shiv Sena, NCP and the Congress are still bickering over the berths, according to sources.