The Shiv Sena (Uddhav group) has waded into the controversy over the infighting within the state Congress unit in Maharashtra by blaming state Congress Chief Nana Patole for the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Incidentally, at least one Congress leader seems to support the Sena’s contention that Patole’s actions had led to the fall of the MVA government.

On Thursday, the Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ carried an edit on the tussle between Patole and leader Balasaheb Thorat who recently tendered his resignation as the Congress Legislative Party chief. Thorat has written to the party top brass that he did not want to work with Patole as the state Congress chief.

“One of the main reasons for the MVA government’s fall was the hasty resignation of Patole as Assembly Speaker. His resignation as Speaker was not a smart move and it led to the start of many problems that culminated in the government’s fall. If Patole had remained as Speaker then the rebel (Shiv Sena) MLAs would have been disqualified immediately,” the edit stated. The edit was referring to Patole’s resignation as Assembly Speaker in February 2021 and his appointment later as the state Congress chief. After Patole’s resignation, the MVA could not agree for a long time on who should be the Speaker and the then Governor BS Koshyari allegedly did not give the MVA permission to hold polls for the Speaker’s post.