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This is an archive article published on January 20, 2021

Nana Patole top contender to take over state Congress chief’s post from Thorat

On Tuesday, a day after the Gram Panchayat election results were declared, Chandrapur MP Suresh Dhanorkar openly voiced his opinion about a change in state leadership.

Pimpri-Chinchwad municipal corporation, Nana Patole, Pimpri Chinchwad, Pune, Khadki, Dehu Road cantonment, Pimpri-Chinchwad elections, congress Pimpri-Chinchwad, congress leaders of Pimpri-Chinchwad, maharashtra news, pune news, indian express

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole. (File)

With Congress finishing at the fourth spot among the four major political parties in the Gram Panchayat elections in the state, the demand for a new state party chief is likely to gain momentum. Nana Patole, who is the state Assembly speaker and has emerged as a strong Congress leader from Vidarbha, is considered the frontrunner for the post.

On Tuesday, a day after the Gram Panchayat election results were declared, Chandrapur MP Suresh Dhanorkar openly voiced his opinion about a change in state leadership. “The state Congress needs an aggressive leader at the helm who can take along all party workers, leaders and MLAs,” he said.

Read | Congress revamp: H K Patil cuts short Mumbai trip, rushes to Delhi

Before the polls, there was speculation that incumbent state party president Balasaheb Thorat would be replaced. However, the Congress leadership had apparently decided to take a call depending on the gram panchayat election results, which have further cast a shadow over Thorat’s leadership role.

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State Congress spokesperson Gopal Tiwarie said, “No name has been finalised yet. I have also heard that Nana Patole is at the forefront for the state chief’s post…When the party leadership takes a decision in this regard, it will be communicated to everyone.”

Congress leaders said the party had begun the process of picking a successor for Thorat. The party is likely to throw its weight behind a young leader rather than going back to an experienced hand, keeping the future in mind. Thorat himself is keen on getting a younger leader at the helm in the state.

“I think a younger face should get a chance to lead the party in the state. If a younger leader is given a chance, I will stand behind him…,” Thorat had said after meeting party leaders in Delhi earlier this month.

Speculations have been rife for some time now over Thorat being replaced and a full-time president being appointed in the state. Thorat, who also holds the revenue portfolio and is the legislature party chief, finds it hard to devote time to the organisational work, party sources said.

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Thorat is not considered a popular mass leader, the way Prithviraj Chavan or Ashok Chavan are.

Along with the name of Nana Patole, the names of Nitin Raut, Amit Deshmukh and Rajiv Satav are also doing the rounds for the Congress state president’s post. Raut is a Congress loyalist and so is the Deshmukh family. Amit is the son of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, among the popular leaders of Congress in the state. Rajiv Satav is close to Rahul Gandhi and the latter is known to favour his close aides.

Congress sources said the party might opt for an OBC face since a Maratha leader, Bhai Jagtap, has been given the charge of Mumbai Congress. “However, there is a risk involved in that… if the Supreme Court verdict goes against Maratha reservation… a Maratha leader at the helm will help to ease the situation,” said a Congress leader.

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Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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