Maharashtra Congress legislature party leader Balasaheb Thorat resigned from the party post a day telling the party's central leadership that he can’t work with state party chief Nana Patole.

The rift within the Maharashtra Congress cam to light after Thorat wrote a letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge against state chief Nana Patole.

In the letter, Thorat cited his inability to work with Maharashtra unit chief Nana Patole due to the latter's "anger" towards him, an aide of the former was quoted by PTI as saying on Monday.

Thorat, a former state unit chief and minister, also said he is not being consulted before decisions were being taken here. He even blamed Patole for the chaos during Vidhan Parishad polls for Nashik.

"Thorat, in his letter to the Congress leadership, has expressed inability to work with state president Nana Patole saying if he (Patole) holds so much anger against him, then it would be difficult to work with him. Thorat has also complained of not being consulted while decisions are taken," the close aide claimed.

The Congress leader is the maternal uncle of Satyajit Tambe who recently won the Legislative Council election from the Nashik division graduates constituency as an independent candidate.

Thorat said he was insulted by the (state) party leadership and statements were made against his family on the (Tambe) issue, the aide said quoting the letter. Some functionaries from Ahmednagar were punished over this issue, the letter to Kharge further said.

Patole had, on January 26, disbanded the Ahmednagar district committee of the Congress for "anti party activities" as some of its members had reportedly campaigned for Satyajit Tambe instead of the candidate to whom the party had officially extended support.

When did the matter escalate

The matter came days after then Nashik graduates constituency MLC Sudhir Tambe, who is the brother-in-law of Thorat, declined to contest despite being the Congress' official candidate. He got his son Satyajit Tambe to fight as an independent. Satyajit Tambe won the poll, results of which were announced on February 2.

While the Congress was left red-faced due to the episode, the silence of Thorat, was seen as silent support to the Tambe father-son duo, sources said.

While Thorat did not take part in the campaign of Satyajit Tambe in the run up to the polls on January 30, several of the former's kin were present. The Congress has suspended Sudhir Tambe and Satyajit Tambe from the party for the MLC poll twist.

How Nana Patole reacted

Patole told reporters in Pune that he didn't think Thorat had written any such letter, adding he would only be able to comment if he knew this "letter's contents".

"I do not know what letter Thorat saheb has written. I can speak on it if the contents are made available to me. I don't think Thorat has written any such letter," Patole said.

He added a meeting of the state executive committee of the Congress will be held on February 13 where several issues will be discussed to find solutions.

(With inputs from PTI

First Published:Feb 7, 2023 1:00 PM IST