Crisis in Maharashtra Congress deepens as Thorat quits as CLP leader

Maharashtra Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat on Tuesday resigned as the state legislature party head, a day after his letter to Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge over apparent friction with state unit chief Nana Patole came out, party sources said.

Thorat has sent his resignation to the party high command, they said.       

The Congress leader is the maternal uncle of Satyajit Tambe who recently won the legislative council election from the Nashik division graduates constituency as an independent candidate.

Thorat is a staunch Congress loyalist and has earlier served as the party's state president, apart from holding many key ministerial portfolios.

An aide of Thorat had said that the Congress leader had written to the party high command citing his inability to work with Patole due to the latter's "anger" towards him. Thorat also said he was not being consulted before decisions were being taken, the aide added.

The matter surfaced days after Thorat's brother-in-law and then Nashik graduates constituency MLC Sudhir Tambe declined to contest despite being the Congress's official candidate. His son Satyajit Tambe then fought as an independent and won the election, results of which were announced on February 2.

While the Congress was left red-faced due to the episode, the silence of Thorat, who is recuperating from a shoulder injury, was seen as silent support to the Tambe father-son duo, sources said.