Mumbai: To proceed its outreach to voters after the Bharat Jodo Yatra, the Congress is planning a two-month grassroots Hath Se Hath Jodo Yatra (Becoming a member of Palms March) beginning this month. However in Maharashtra, among the social gathering’s personal senior leaders are neither in a position to be part of palms nor see eye to eye with one another.
Too many energy centres, conflicting statements by senior leaders, and rebellions inside political households which have held Congress bastions for many years have severely crippled the social gathering within the state, say analysts in addition to social gathering insiders.
And on condition that Maharashtra sends the second-largest variety of MPs to the Lok Sabha (after Uttar Pradesh), the state of affairs might result in critical ramifications for the social gathering, some identified.
The state of affairs is made all of the extra ironic on condition that the Congress was born in erstwhile Bombay in 1885, however now appears to be self-combusting within the area of its birthplace.
The most recent occasion of an enormous rift within the Maharashtra Congress was when members of the family of legislative social gathering chief Balasaheb Thorat went towards the social gathering choice for the upcoming legislative council elections. Thorat’s brother-in-law and nephew — Congress chief Sudhir Tambe and his son Satyajeet Tambe — had been each suspended from the social gathering over this matter.
This embarrassing saga, say social gathering insiders and political analysts, is symptomatic of a widespread malaise.
“All high leaders don’t appear to be working collectively. The Congress in Maharashtra has change into a celebration with all-talk-no-action leaders,” stated political commentator Hemant Desai.
“The social gathering that was born in Maharashtra is wanting very weak although it’s nonetheless considerably related within the Vidarbha area. There isn’t any floor work or any programmes undertaken by the social gathering,” he added.
Whereas some Congress leaders level fingers on the BJP for “breaking apart households”, others say that the issue is essentially an inside one.
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Divided households, ‘homebreaker’ BJP?
Veteran chief Sudhir Tambe was presupposed to be the official Congress candidate for the Nashik graduates constituency of the MLC polls slated for 30 January. However as an alternative of submitting his nomination papers, he tried to make method for his 39-year-old son Satyajeet, a former state Youth Congress president.
As a result of he didn’t have all the required paperwork, Satyajeet then went forward and filed his nomination as an Unbiased candidate with out the social gathering’s consent.
Congress sources had informed ThePrint earlier this month that Satyajeet’s uncle Balasaheb Thorat was stunned and “sad” about his nephew’s transfer.
The divide within the Tambe-Thorat home is a blow to the Congress too. For about twenty years, the Tambes and Thorats have collectively assured victory for the Congress in two locations — the Nashik MLC seat that Sudhir Tambe had held for 3 consecutive phrases, and the Sangamner meeting constituency in Ahmednagar district that Balasaheb Thorat has clinched for seven phrases in a row.
The most recent controversy has led to some Congress leaders pointing fingers on the BJP, which has curiously not fielded a candidate towards Satyajeet within the Nashik MLC election. The younger chief additionally made public statements about looking for the BJP’s “help”, though the social gathering has stored its playing cards near its chest.
“It’s a custom of the BJP that they attempt to break folks’s households. They can’t even discover a candidate of their very own and therefore they resort to breaking others’ homes,” Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole informed reporters in Mumbai final Wednesday.
Whereas the BJP’s function within the Tambe insurrection is up for debate, the social gathering has had an unmistakable influence in different Congress strongholds.
Earlier than the 2019 meeting elections, there have been circumstances of total Congress ‘dynasties’ shifting to the BJP in Maharashtra, taking their help bases with them.
For instance, in March 2019, then Congressman Sujay Vikhe-Patil jumped to the BJP and have become a debutant MP from Ahmednagar. Six months later, his father, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, too adopted swimsuit and is now a cupboard minister within the Eknath Shinde-led Maharashtra authorities. The Vikhe-Patils have jumped a number of events by the years, however the household’s longest affiliation had been with the Congress.
Equally, former MP Harshvardhan Patil, who represented the Indapur parliamentary seat for the Congress for 4 phrases, joined the BJP forward of the 2019 meeting polls. His uncle, Shankarrao Patil, had held the Congress’ fort, Baramati parliamentary constituency, for 2 phrases within the Nineteen Eighties and was a cupboard minister within the Nineteen Seventies.
Narayan Rane and his sons, who shifted to the Congress from the Shiv Sena in 2005 and helped the previous make inroads in Maharashtra’s Konkan area, stop the social gathering in 2017. Two years later, he formally joined the BJP together with his help base within the coastal districts. Rane is now a Union minister.
There have been fixed rumours about two different longstanding Congress households probably shifting their allegiance to the BJP — the Chavans of Nanded and the Deshmukhs of Latur. Congress MLAs Ashok Chavan and Amit Deshmukh, have, nonetheless, vehemently denied these solutions on a number of events.
“The BJP is attempting to seize these households who can win no matter what social gathering they belong to. They can’t enhance their very own base and therefore attempt to get folks and households who’re successful for years,” stated a Congress chief who himself is a part of a political household.
“On this case as properly, they tried to scout Satyajeet and made him stand impartial. It’s embarrassing, however there isn’t a different various. The BJP is attempting to interrupt away candidates of different events, not simply the Congress. Even households like Pawars, Bhosales, all are underneath risk. This can carry on taking place. It’s their technique,” he added.
One other Congress chief alleged: “They’re tapping into these large households who’re main gamers within the co-operative sector. Cooperation is ideally a state topic, nonetheless, this time period, the central authorities created a brand new ministry of cooperation and since Maharashtra has many co-operatives, the BJP is attempting to interrupt these political households.”
Final week, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule retorted to the ‘residence breaker’ allegations doing to the rounds. “The Congress is a sinking ship and there’s no unity inside the MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) companions. So Congress is accusing us of breaking properties,” he stated.
The MVA coalition, comprising the Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Get together (NCP), and Congress, was in energy in Maharashtra from November 2019 to June 2022, when a break up within the Shiv Sena led to that authorities’s collapse.
Too many energy centres
Earlier this month, the state Congress organised a gathering in Nagpur for the Hath Se Hath Jodo marketing campaign. However a number of senior leaders like Balasaheb Thorat, Ashok Chavan, Yashomati Thakur and Vishwajeet Kadam stored away, citing varied causes.
And this isn’t a one-off occasion. Final month, when the MVA organised a large protest rally towards the BJP and Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, Chavan skipped the occasion and attended his nephew’s wedding ceremony. He despatched his spouse in his stead to the rally.
In 2019, Patole had helmed the ‘Pol Khol Yatra’ (Expose BJP March) forward of the meeting election, however senior leaders avoided it saying they weren’t taken into confidence.
Later after changing into the social gathering state president, Patole made conflicting statements about going solo within the upcoming municipal elections, regardless of being in energy with the Sena and the NCP, creating confusion amongst staff, analysts say.
When the MVA coalition was in energy, as many as 28 Congress MLAs wrote to the then social gathering president Sonia Gandhi in 2021 saying the social gathering’s ministers weren’t serving to members on improvement works and entry to funds.
“The Congress is totally within the doldrums in Maharashtra. There isn’t any one chief. Many senior leaders have their very own establishments and bastions,” stated Prakash Bal, a political commentator.
“There isn’t any cohesion or a frontrunner who would construct the social gathering collectively and it’s troublesome for the Congress to battle elections by itself. There isn’t any organisation on the bottom stage,” he added.
Nevertheless, senior Congress chief and former CM Ashok Chavan stated there was no confusion within the social gathering, and laid the blame squarely on the BJP.
“No, it’s not like that there’s confusion inside the social gathering. Even throughout the MLC elections, it was the BJP that attempted to facilitate cross-voting. This isn’t hidden any extra. That’s the BJP’s technique to interrupt votes and create confusion,” Chavan stated. “Even in Nashik, the identical experiment occurred and this can be a critical challenge. Issues ought to have been mentioned and sorted whereas giving out the kinds, but it surely didn’t occur and we’re engaged on it.”
Lack of ‘self-discipline’
A number of Congress leaders that ThePrint spoke to stated that lack of ample supervision or involvement of the social gathering’s central management has fostered the creation of various energy centres in Maharashtra.
“The self-discipline that wanted to be there within the social gathering just isn’t there. If incidents of insubordination occur, there needs to be motion by the excessive command… that’s not taking place,” a 3rd Congress chief stated.
He added that there was no motion towards MLAs who allegedly cross-voted throughout the MLC election final 12 months, regardless of the All India Congress Committee (AICC) having ordered an inquiry and a report being despatched to the social gathering management. “Lack of motion emboldens folks like Satyajeet,” he stated.
Throughout the MLC elections in June final 12 months, seven Congress MLAs allegedly cross-voted resulting in its failure in getting the social gathering’s first selection candidate, Chandrakant Handore, elected, whereas its second selection of candidate Bhai Jagtap gained, embarrassing the social gathering.
He additional stated the accountability for the Congress’ present state doesn’t lie solely with Patole and is a collective failure of all senior social gathering leaders.
“The hypothesis round Satyajeet Tambe was happening for one month when Fadnavis even hinted throughout a programme publicly in entrance of Thorat that they’re eyeing Satyajeet,” he stated. However no one picked it up. It’s unhappy,” he added.
This time although, the Congress’ disciplinary motion committee was fast to behave towards the Tambe father-son duo. Satyajeet is suspended for six years, whereas Sudhir Tambe is suspended pending an inquiry.
Final week, Nagpur MLA Ashish Deshmukh shot a letter to the social gathering excessive command blaming state Congress president Patole for the social gathering’s despair right this moment, significantly Satyajeet Tambe’s insurrection.
“In June 2022, Handore was the primary selection candidate however Bhai Jagtap received the votes disrespecting the order. On July 04, 2022 throughout the ground take a look at at the least 10 MLAs remained absent and so the Shinde authorities received a majority simply, and Satyajeet Tambe’s insurrection has additional embarrassed the social gathering,” the letter learn.
Throughout the Shinde-led authorities’s ground take a look at, as many as 10 Congress MLAs, together with Ashok Chavan and Dheeraj Deshmukh, had been absent as they may not make it on time, leaving the social gathering red-faced.
(Edited by Geethalakshmi Ramanathan)
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