Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Nana Patole Resigns From Post, Likely To Take Over Position Of State Congress Chief

Patole had met with the central leadership in Delhi on Wednesday and then returned to Maharashtra on Thursday morning. Reportedly, his name has been finalised by Congress.

Mumbai: Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Nana Patole resigned from his post on Thursday, soon after reports of him becoming state Congress chief began spreading.

As per reports that site legislature sources, Nana Patole handed over his resignation to deputy speaker Narhari Zhirwal. Following this, he is likely to replace revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat as state Congress president soon.

Patole had met with the central leadership in Delhi on Wednesday and then returned to Maharashtra on Thursday morning. Reportedly, his name has been finalised by Congress.

Formal discussion with the heads of the other two ruling parties has also taken place as Congress leaders reportedly spoke with chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar to convey the decision, being the two of three parties in Maharashtra's Maha Vikas Aghadi government.

Patole had begun as a Congress member but later shifted to the BJP. He won in the Bhandara-Gondia constituency as a BJP MP in 2014. He then returned to Congress criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was then made Speaker when the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress coalition formed the government.

Meanwhile, the budget session of the state legislature will begin on March 1.