Mumbai: The news of discord is coming to the fore once again inside the Maharashtra Congress. State Congress in-charge H.K. A meeting of senior Congress leaders was held at the MCA Club in Bandra under the chairmanship of HK Patil. State President Nana Patole, Cabinet Minister Balasaheb Thorat, Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde and Prithviraj Chavan and many other leaders attended the meeting.
However, a controversy has arisen over the non-invitation of party’s prominent Dalit leader and cabinet minister Nitin Raut to this meeting. According to sources, Raut reached the state in-charge to meet Patil, but left without attending the meeting.
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No reason for Raut’s displeasure
Congress state president Nana Patole said that there is no reason for cabinet minister Nitin Raut to be angry about the meeting. He said the meeting was convened to review the past election results besides discussing the upcoming elections. Patole said Raut was not expected to attend the meeting.
Meeting invitation given to special leaders
State Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe said that apart from only the present state president, former state president, former chief minister and leader of the legislature party had been invited for this meeting. Because of this Nitin Raut did not attend the meeting. He denied that Raut was not invited due to any rift in the Congress.
Wall between Patole and Raut
State Congress President Nana Patole and Cabinet Minister Nitin Raut are together to say, but there is also a wall between them. According to sources, a dispute is going on between these two leaders for the last several months. The controversy deepened when Patole wrote a complaint letter to CM Uddhav Thackeray against Raut’s accomplice. In this letter, Patole had accused the Nagpur Mineral Development Corporation of not following the rules in the tender. He had dragged the state power generation company Mahagenco for irregularities in the tender process. In this letter, Chief Minister Thackeray and Industries Minister Subhash Desai were requested to postpone the work order given to Rukhmai Infrastructure Pvt. Since then, there was a rift in the relationship between Patole and Raut. It is also discussed that Patole is also eyeing Raut’s energy department. Patole has been trying to become a cabinet minister for the last several months, but so far he has not been successful in this.