Nana Patole is a man in a hurry. His task is to revive the Congress in Maharashtra, and for that he will have to take on the BJP as well as tackle his party’s partners in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government—the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party.
The blunt-talking Patole is different from his predecessor and current Revenue Minister Balasaheb Thorat. He pulls no punches, and he recently had words with NCP state president and state Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil. When he was with the BJP, Patole had stood up to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on OBC and farmer issues before jumping ship. As Congress president, though, he cannot afford to upset the Shiv Sena or the NCP beyond a point, lest it affect the stability of the state government.
In an interview with THE WEEK, Patole spoke about a range of issues, including the performance of Congress ministers, the Sena’s suggestion to make Sharad Pawar the leader of the United Progressive Alliance and his conviction that the Congress has to contest elections independently if it wants to regain lost ground. Excerpts:
The Congress has become aggressive under you. What is your aim?
When I was made state president, I received Sonia Gandhi’s blessings. She told me that, historically, Maharashtra had always been with the Congress and that she wished to see the same again. It has been three and a half months since I took charge, and I have a team of six working presidents, each in-charge of one of the six revenue divisions in the state. All of them are working aggressively. I am touring the entire state and I have seen the enthusiasm of the people and our workers. People are eager to see the Congress making a comeback in Maharashtra.
But this same aggression is not seen in the Congress ministers.
This is a three-party government and we are the smallest partner. Had Covid not been there, and had our finances been healthy, you would have seen Congress ministers taking up development-related issues aggressively. A picture has emerged in the state that only one region and one community is getting the benefits of development. Our ministers would have taken up all these issues had Covid not been there. Our desire, at present, is to ensure that this government functions smoothly, and we are working accordingly.
The BJP and Devendra Fadnavis have said that your government failed to protect the reservation for OBCs in local bodies.
On the contrary, the Devendra Fadnavis government is responsible for the current situation. It is his sin. The RSS leadership has twice said that they want to do away with reservation—once in Rajasthan and then in Bihar. So, it is clear that it is the BJP that is opposed to reservation and it is pretending to launch an agitation on this issue. That is why the Congress did a counter-agitation to expose the BJP. The BJP is responsible for the nationwide losses of the OBC communities, and people are now realising it. We conducted a two-day all-party workshop on the OBC reservation issue in Lonavala, where we put across our point of view. People have accepted our thinking.
Recently, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, in his column in Saamana, suggested that Sharad Pawar lead the UPA.
After writing this piece, Raut himself gave a clarification that if the BJP is to be ousted from power, then there is no alternative to the Congress and that the Congress has to take the lead. He also said that the Congress is the heart of the UPA. So, it is clear that Raut has realised what he was saying was wrong.
But is the Congress open to the idea of having Pawar as UPA chairperson?
In 2019, the Congress received 19 per cent of votes. We have increased this by another 6 to 7 per cent today. So, in the coming years, even Pawar knows that a non-BJP government cannot be formed along with smaller regional parties. Even the Shiv Sena did not attend the recent meeting that Pawar hosted in Delhi. Pawar is the head of a regional party and he knows that only the Congress can lead the UPA. We would have been happier had he been with the Congress.
Why are you constantly talking about fighting elections alone?
Pawar has even answered this question. He himself has said that if anyone wants to strengthen his own party and is, therefore, talking about contesting elections solo, no one should have a problem with that. I am working as per the instructions of Sonia ji and I am taking the party forward. I will do everything necessary to take my party ahead. The next assembly elections are in 2024. Our people have started working in all assembly segments. I have taken the stand I had to. If I keep repeating it, it may lose its edge.
Does this mean that the Congress will remain part of the alliance in 2024, but will work to be the largest in the group so as to have its own chief minister?
The Congress believes in democracy. Alliances are not new for us. We had our chief ministers in 1999, 2004 and 2009 because we had more legislators. Now there is a chief minister from the Shiv Sena because they have more legislators. So, we will work hard to convince people to elect us in more numbers and, if that happens, we will have our chief minister.
So there is no danger to the state government from the Congress.
This government will complete its full five-year term. There is no danger. We will be with Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. We will not oppose the government from within.
Do you fear that the Shiv Sena will desert you and go back to the BJP?
If the Shiv Sena tomorrow feels that it should go back to the BJP, so be it. We will not allow ourselves to be dragged with them. We are where we were. Shiv Sena has come to this side. One thing is clear—we cannot ally with the BJP or allow ourselves to be dragged anywhere close to the BJP. But Uddhav Thackeray has also clarified that the Sena will not go back to the BJP.
Would you like to be chief minister if the Congress has the most legislators?
That is for Sonia ji and the party high command to decide. I was the speaker of the legislative assembly. They asked me to become state president, I accepted it. So, the point is, I will do whatever the high command asks me to do.