Patole denies dissent against MVA govt

A few legislators admit being unhappy over neglect by party ministers

Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president Nana Patole strongly denied media reports on the growing dissent among party legislators against the functioning of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Patole’s clarification came a day after news about 25 disgruntled party legislators meeting Congress president Sonia Gandhi next week to argue their case against the functioning of the MVA government in which Congress is a junior partner.

Patole said, “The MVA government is stable and there is no threat to it. There is nothing wrong if some legislators and leaders express their desire to meet senior party leaders.”

Accusing the BJP of spreading rumours, he asked, “Was everything ok when the BJPShiv Sena government was ruling the state between 2014 and 2019?”

Congress legislator Kunal Patil from Dhule, who will be one of the 25 legislators meeting Sonia Gandhi, also ruled out dissent. “Party legislators will be in New Delhi to attend the workshop organised by the Lok Sabha Speaker. So, they have also sought an appointment with the party president and seek her

guidance,” he clarified.

However, another legislator claimed that they were unhappy over being neglected by Congress ministers despite the MVA government being in power since November 2019. “It was decided that every Congress minister will take care of four legislators to pursue their works in

their respective constituencies so that they could get necessary funds for the completion of works in a time bound manner. However, nothing has been done so far in this regard. If they are neglected further, the Congress party may badly lose the upcoming local and civic body elections in the state,” he said.