Congress set to suspend Ashish Deshmukh after he accuses Patole of taking money from Shinde

Deshmukh added that Patole, who is from Nagpur division, has no role in organising the next MVA rally to be held in the city on April 16. “Other leaders are taking up the responsibility. Is he now planning his next move to Guwahati?” asked Deshmukh, in an apparent reference to Shinde, who along with his MLAs, was stationed in Guwahati after he rebelled against the previous Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government.

On April 2, Patole did not attend MVA’s first ever joint rally at Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. The Congress had earlier said that Patole did not attend due to ill-health but later Patole denied the same and maintained that he was travelling to Delhi to meet the Congress high command.

Deshmukh has in the past made statements against Congress leader Rahul Gandhi as well. He had said that Gandhi should apologise to OBCs after the Surat court sentenced him to two years’ in jail in a defamation case over his 2019 remark about the surname Modi.

In January, Deshmukh had written to Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge, seeking removal of Patole, blaming him responsible for party’s dwindling fortunes in the state. When contacted, state Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said, “He (Deshmukh) desperately needs publicity and in that search, he has lost his mental balance. As a result, he has been making such senseless comments.”