Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole on Friday said the party’s state unit will soon have a new president as he has requested the central leadership to relieve him of his post.
Patole was speaking to reporters at the Assembly House in Nagpur, where the winter session of the state assembly is underway.
He said a decision on the new Maharashtra Congress chief will be taken soon. “We have authorized the central leadership of the party to appoint a new leader,” he said.
Patole said he has requested the party high command to relieve him from the post of state Congress president since he was the state Congress chief for four years.
He said their legislative leader would also be appointed soon.
After the Congress suffered its worst-ever defeat in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, party sources had earlier claimed that Patole had asked the central leadership to relieve him of his organizational duties.
However, Patole clarified last week that he had not tendered his resignation and rumors were spreading.
In the recent parliamentary elections, the ruling party Mahayutthir achieved a landslide victory to retain power in the state, winning a whopping 230 of the 288 parliamentary seats. The opposition party Maha Vikas Aghadi suffered a disastrous defeat, winning 46 seats, of which the Congress won only 16 seats.
Patole retained the Sakoli seat by a margin of 208 votes.