Congress will contest 150 assembly seats, will repeat LS poll performance: MPCC president Nana Patole | Mumbai News – Times of India
After taking Congress from one LS seat in the state in 2019 to making it the single largest party with 13 seats this time, MPCC president Nana Patole, who got all the factions within the party to work together, isn’t sitting on his laurels yet. He has already set his eyes on replicating the win in the assembly elections, which are likely to be held later this year.In an exclusive chat with TOI, Patole said Congress has already prepared a comprehensive action plan for it. Excerpts:
Q. Congress’s massive victory, despite its limited resources compared to Mahayuti, was unexpected
A. We were expecting to win at least 15 seats, but owing to errors of judgement over Pune and Nagpur, we could not achieve the target. We will examine why we lost there despite our candidates giving rivals sleepless nights.
In Sangli, Congress rebel Vishal Patil has won by a huge margin. What is his status in the party?
While the seat sharing formula was underway, we could not secure that seat. Local leaders had insisted on fielding Vishal Patil, but we did not accept that proposal… He has now agreed to join Congress as an associate member, and as per provisions of the law, he will soon be accepted as one.
What was your strategy for the Lok Sabha elections?
Throughout the process, we involved grassroots workers and gave them proper training. Barring Chandrapur and Pune, all our candidates were ones who had kept a low profile. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra helped Congress improve its perform- ance in a big way. I am sure we will repeat the performance in the assembly elections.
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has offered to quit in view of BJP’s performance
That is his personal decision and BJP’s internal problem. From the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls, it’s been clearly established that people at large have outrightly rejected BJP, and PM Narendra Modi’s announcement of ‘400 paar’ was unrealistic. The results are clear: BJP failed to secure aclear majority on its own.
What will be the strategy for the assembly polls?
We have set the target of making Congress the single largest party in the state polls, too. We are planning to contest 150 seats. The elections will be fought under the banner of MVA. It took more than threeand-a-half months to draft the seat sharing formula for the Lok Sabha polls. We will have to initiate preparations for the assembly elections immedi- ately so that the seat sharing formula is ready in a month.
Prominent Congress leader Ashok Chavan quit right before the LS elections
Chavan’s decision had no impact. BJP lost all the seats in Marathwada region. We have several leaders in Marathwada who are more powerful than Chavan. Look at the performance of Amit Deshmukh (the late Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son). He launched a vigorous campaign and we won all the seats in Marathwada.
Did Maratha quota and VBA factors affect voting?
There was no Maratha factor. In our opinion, [quota activist] Manoj Jarange launched a social movement to secure reservation for Marathas, while we are fighting politically. And VBA, led by Prakash Ambedkar, failed to make any impact. Ambedkar himself lost. In the 2019 polls, Congress had lost nine seats because of VBA. This time, we don’t see it having impacted us.
Q. Congress’s massive victory, despite its limited resources compared to Mahayuti, was unexpected
A. We were expecting to win at least 15 seats, but owing to errors of judgement over Pune and Nagpur, we could not achieve the target. We will examine why we lost there despite our candidates giving rivals sleepless nights.
In Sangli, Congress rebel Vishal Patil has won by a huge margin. What is his status in the party?
While the seat sharing formula was underway, we could not secure that seat. Local leaders had insisted on fielding Vishal Patil, but we did not accept that proposal… He has now agreed to join Congress as an associate member, and as per provisions of the law, he will soon be accepted as one.
What was your strategy for the Lok Sabha elections?
Throughout the process, we involved grassroots workers and gave them proper training. Barring Chandrapur and Pune, all our candidates were ones who had kept a low profile. Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra helped Congress improve its perform- ance in a big way. I am sure we will repeat the performance in the assembly elections.
Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis has offered to quit in view of BJP’s performance
That is his personal decision and BJP’s internal problem. From the outcome of the Lok Sabha polls, it’s been clearly established that people at large have outrightly rejected BJP, and PM Narendra Modi’s announcement of ‘400 paar’ was unrealistic. The results are clear: BJP failed to secure aclear majority on its own.
What will be the strategy for the assembly polls?
We have set the target of making Congress the single largest party in the state polls, too. We are planning to contest 150 seats. The elections will be fought under the banner of MVA. It took more than threeand-a-half months to draft the seat sharing formula for the Lok Sabha polls. We will have to initiate preparations for the assembly elections immedi- ately so that the seat sharing formula is ready in a month.
Prominent Congress leader Ashok Chavan quit right before the LS elections
Chavan’s decision had no impact. BJP lost all the seats in Marathwada region. We have several leaders in Marathwada who are more powerful than Chavan. Look at the performance of Amit Deshmukh (the late Vilasrao Deshmukh’s son). He launched a vigorous campaign and we won all the seats in Marathwada.
Did Maratha quota and VBA factors affect voting?
There was no Maratha factor. In our opinion, [quota activist] Manoj Jarange launched a social movement to secure reservation for Marathas, while we are fighting politically. And VBA, led by Prakash Ambedkar, failed to make any impact. Ambedkar himself lost. In the 2019 polls, Congress had lost nine seats because of VBA. This time, we don’t see it having impacted us.
