Congress leaders urge party men to work for MVA candidate in Sangli

Mumbai: The Congress is in damage control role after local leader Vishal Patil defied the party and filed nomination for the Lok Sabha polls. State leaders of the Congress on Thursday held a meeting to convince the party cadre to contest for Shiv Sena UBT candidate Chandrahar Patil. Party workers, local leaders as well as legislators of Congress have stayed away from the Shiv Sena UBT candidate’s campaign so far.

Congress legislator Vishwajit Kadam, who was lobbying for Vishal Patil’s candidature, said the Shiv Sena UBT “conspired” to snatch the Sangli seat from Congress. He said that the Uddhav Thackeray-led party should not expect any help from Congress during the Assembly polls later this year.  He also told Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, Congress legislature party leader Balasaheb Thorat and senior leader and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, who were present in the meeting, that they did not keep an eye on what was underway during seat sharing talks.

“When a wrestler (Chandrahar Patil) was inducted by the alliance partner, we sensed something wrong was about to happen. Then Uddhav Thackeray comes here and announces his candidate. Does such a thing happen in an alliance,” Kadam said.

The Congress wanted to contest from the seat but the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) unilaterally declared wrestler Chandrahar Patil as its candidate, resulting in the grand old party's Vishal Patil filing his nomination as an independent.

Kadam said he had urged Vishal Patil not to contest the election as an independent and assured the party leaders that he would continue to work for strengthening Congress in Sangli.

Patole told party workers that he got “rapped in the conspiracy” but added he knew how to come out of the “chakravyuh”. “We are a national party. We are not helpless. We just took a step backward. The situation in the country is one of despair and it needs to be rectified. Congress workers in Sangli will contribute to the victory of the MVA for the sake of the country,” he said.

The state Congress chief further said that Congress had to give up its claim on the Sangli seat in order to save the alliance.

Thorat reminded party workers that defeating the BJP is the larger goal and the INDIA bloc was formed to unite the opposition, save democracy and protect the Constitution. “The party leadership came from Delhi to Mumbai to discuss the Sangli seat, but the allies did not relent. There is a positive atmosphere for the Congress and Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra. Our objective is to defeat the BJP,” he said.

Former CM Prithviraj Chavan also said the Congress lost the Sangli seat due to politics, but defeating the BJP remains the party’s priority. 

“We formed an alliance (with Shiv Sena) in 2019 out of compulsion. The alliance would not have been formed if the 2019 assembly results were different. The Sangli Lok Sabha seat is the price we are paying for the alliance formed out of compulsion. However, we must work towards MVA’s victory in Maharashtra and INDIA bloc’s victory in India. If we fail, we will be cursed by the future generations,” Chavan said.