Congress leader Nana Patole has stirred a political storm in Maharashtra by suggesting that Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, who are key figures in the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), respectively, should consider joining forces with the Congress. Patole went further, proposing that both leaders could even alternate in the Chief Minister’s post on a “rotational” basis.
Patole, the former head of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), expressed that both Shinde and Pawar are struggling within their current political alliances and feel stifled. He offered a solution: Congress would back them, ensuring that the issue of leadership would be resolved by allowing Shinde and Pawar to share the Chief Minister’s role. Patole also claimed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would never elevate either of them to the CM position.
Patole’s comments quickly sparked reactions from the ruling alliance, with leaders like Shinde and BJP’s Chandrashekar Bawankule taking jabs at him and even extending a “counter offer” to him, inviting him to join the ruling coalition.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut weighed in on the controversy, recalling a past instance when Eknath Shinde had reportedly considered joining the Congress. According to Raut, Shinde had discussions with Congress leader, the late Ahmed Patel, about possibly switching sides during the period when Congress was in power both at the state and national levels. Raut further added that these talks had even taken place in the early hours of the morning, an incident that could be verified by former Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan.