A day after Nana Patole resigned from the post of Maharashtra Assembly Speaker, he was appointed as the President of the state Congress unit on Friday, February 5.
Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, has replaced revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat as state Congress president. The Congress shares power with the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra.
In a statement released by the party, KC Venugopal said, "The party appreciates the contributions of outgoing PCC president, Balasaheb Thorat and outgoing working presidents and vice presidents.”
Ten vice presidents of the state unit, including former Rajya Sabha member Hussain Dalwai, were also appointed. The party also set up a Parliamentary Board in the state with 37 members, a Strategy, Screening and Coordination Committee for the upcoming local bodies elections.
Former Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter Pranati has been appointed as the working president. Besides Pranati, the Congress leadership also appointed Shivaji Rao Moge, Basavaraj Patil, Mohamed Arif Naseem, Kunal Rohidas Patil and Chandrakanth Handore as the working president of the party's Maharashtra unit.
A delegation of Congress ministers, headed by Thorat, had recently met the party leadership in Delhi. Patole had also met former party chief Rahul Gandhi in Delhi. His name had been doing the rounds for the post of the state Congress president and he had been lobbying for a meaty portfolio as well.
Patole, who was part of the Congress, had later joined the BJP as was elected as an MP in 2014 from Bhandara-Gondia constituency. He later returned to the Congress and was made Speaker when the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition formed the government last year.
Share
Tweet
