Maharashtra state Assembly Leader of Opposition will be announced in a day or two, Congress party Chief Spokesperson Atul Londhe Patil told Organiser. The post has been lying vacant ever since July 2 the day the last incumbent to the post NCP Leader Ajit Pawar joined the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena administration as a coalition force.
“Our party’s High Command (senior-most Congress leaders) have been busy with the Monsoon session of Parliament and therefore this issue has been lagging till now. But by tomorrow we are likely to have clarity on who will be our candidate to take on the mantle of Leader of Opposition,” Atul Londhe Patil told Organiser.
With NCP’s both factions (Sharad Pawar and Ajit Pawar) of the NCP having submitted representations to the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly, each claiming to be the real NCP, the post of LoP has fallen into the Congress kitty. Since the political rebellion of Ajit Dada (as he is popularly called), the Congres0 has refrained from claiming the LoP post or naming an incumbent to such an important rank. In fact, the Maharashtra Assembly’s monsoon session has commenced without a designated Leader of Opposition.
A #Congress leader laments that despite the change of guard in the party, decision making has not been speeded up. The party has failed to appoint a leader of opposition in the #Maharashtra assembly so far. The big tent approach & moves to strike a consensus among rival camps +
— Dhaval Kulkarni (धवल कुलकर्णी) 🇮🇳 (@dhavalkulkarni) July 24, 2023
Senior journalist Dhaval Kulkarni tweets, “A Congress leader laments that despite the change of guard in the party, decision-making has not been speeded up. The party has failed to appoint a leader of opposition in the Maharashtra assembly so far. The big tent approach & moves to strike a consensus among rival camps must be done away with, he stresses. There are indications that the leader of opposition may be appointed after the CWC is expanded & after there is an organisational reshuffle in the Maharashtra unit of the party.”
If the chief spokesperson of the Congress party is right in claiming that there will be no more delay in the appointment of LoP, then before this week ends, the name will be declared.
Commenting on the buzz that this time there will be a relatively newer face as LoP such as Yashomati Thakur or Vijay Namdevrao Wadettiwar, and not popular powerful names like Prithviraj Chavan, Ashok Chavan, or Balasaheb Thorat etc, Londhe said that they have not zeroed in on a name yet. “We have a settled procedure in the party to choose the LoP and there is no internal competition or struggle for the post. Everyone’s say will be taken into account.”
Dhaval Kulkarni observed that the post of the Leader of the Opposition is an extremely important one. It helps the Opposition grill the government on various key issues – whether pertaining to the Assembly or matters of importance that unfold in society. Any party that wishes to nominate a person to this post will also have to create the infrastructure and ecosystem to help the LoP function to his/her optimum capability. Delay in nominating the LoP is a political folly.
However, whatever the Congress party claims, the fact remains that an extremely powerful post has been lying unoccupied in the current political scenario. The post has seen stalwart leaders such as Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Ajit Pawar, Eknath Shinde, Chhagan Bhujbal, and Narayan Rane.
Interestingly, all the names of LoPs mentioned above have also broken ranks with their parent party or rebelled in some manner or the other.
The last Leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar’s group has asserted that he is now the President of the NCP and has informed the Speaker that the NCP has joined the government. Meanwhile, NCP founder Sharad Pawar’s group has submitted a representation stating that the NCP has removed Ajit Pawar as the Leader of the Opposition and appointed Jitendra Awadh in his place.
One likely name from Congress as a LoP candidate is that of Nana Patole who is the current President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee from 5 February 2021. Patole was the Speaker of the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly before this appointment.
Congress spokesperson Atul Londhe who hails from Nagpur and is seen as close to Nana Patole who is also from the Vidarbha region however refused to confirm any names.
