After being snubbed by the high command for announcing names to undertake preliminary seat-sharing talks with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners without seeking its approval, Maharashtra Congress has now officially sought permission from party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Congress state chief Nana Patole, after meeting Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, had given three names from the party to represent Congress in the preliminary talks on Lok Sabha seat-sharing. The names were of former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, former minister Naseem Khan and state working president and former MLA Basavraj Patil. Irked with Patole's action of not seeking approval before giving responsibility, party high command cancelled the appointment next day. Sources also confirmed that a complaint was made to AICC general secretary K C Venugopal over Patole's dictatorial manner of running the state unit. Faced with embarrassment, Patole on October 7 officially wrote to Kharge seeking permission to name above mentioned three leaders for the preliminary talks for Lok Sabha seat-sharing. "The letter was written on October 7, a day after Patole was communicated high command's displeasure. The Congress president will take a final call on this," said a senior party leader from Delhi. Following the meeting between Thackeray and Patole, it was decided that each of three parties in the MVA would assign three leaders to kick-start preliminary discussions on the Lok Sabha seat-sharing. Patole, allegedly without even consulting with senior leadership within the party, chose to go ahead with the announcement naming Chavan, Khan and Patil. The incident has also exposed the ongoing infighting within the state unit of the party. Party's state in-charge and Karnataka Minister H K Patil has not visited Maharashtra for over two months now. Patil being not named in the newly announced Congress Working Committee (CWC) also means that he won't remain as the AICC in-charge of the state unit. "The party will soon take a call on this. A number of appointments are pending and it is likely that those will be made soon," the leader said.
