MUMBAI: The Congress central leadership has decided to replace party’s Maharashtra president Nana Patole as part of an exercise to revive the party, which a suffered a severe drubbing in the assembly elections, sources said. Former CM Prithviraj Chavan has been called to Delhi by the Congress leadership, the sources said, fuelling speculations that he may be picked as the state president.“There is a serious discussion going on to replace Nana Patole. He recently submitted his resignation to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, taking responsibility for the party’s defeat in the state elections. Now, the leadership has to accept the resignation and announce a new state president after consultations with state leaders,” a senior Congress leader, said.In the assembly elections, BJP-led MahaYuti won 230 seats while the Opposition MVA got only 50 seats — Congress won 16, Shiv Sena (UBT) 20 and Sharad Pawar-led NCP 10.Sources in the Congress said that apart from Chavan, party MLC Satej Patil and MLA Amit Deshmukh are in consideration for the state chief post. “It is true that the state Congress leadership will be changed. But who will be the next state Congress president is most important. There are challenges ahead. The party has to bounce back in local body elections if it wants to revive its fortunes in the state. Leadership change is very critical,” a Congress leader said, requesting anonymity.Another leader said Prithviraj Chavan is the front-runner for state Congress chief post. “But the issue of Chavan losing the state polls to BJP’s Atul Bhosale is likely to arise. Satej Patel is an MLC and Amit Deshmukh is an MLA. The party will consider all these factors while choosing the state leadership,” he said.
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