- By Nidhi Giri
- Sun, 16 Mar 2025 02:26 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
Congress leader Nana Patole has stirred up politics in Maharashtra by inviting Deputy Chief Ministers Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar, who lead the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) respectively, to join hands with the grand old party, adding that they could even get the CM chair on a “rotational basis”.
“The condition of Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde is not good in the ruling alliance and the government. They are feeling suffocated… We will extend our support to them. To resolve the issue of the CM position between them (Ajit and Shinde), we will give them a CM post on a rotational basis and make both of them CM. The BJP will never make any of them CM,” Patole, the former Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president, said on Friday.
Soon after Nana Patole made his remarks, the Mahayuti leaders including Shinde and the BJP’s Chandrashekar Bawankule took swipes at him by giving him a “counter offer” to join the ruling alliance.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Saturday claimed that deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde had in the past tried to join the Congress when the party was in power at the Centre and in the state and even held talks with Congress leader, late Ahmed Patel, in this regard.
Speaking to the media on Saturday morning, Raut claimed, “Shinde was once about to join Congress. You can ask Prithviraj Chavan about it. I know of early morning talks held between Shinde and Ahmed Patel.’’