"Formation of anti-BJP front without Congress will indirectly help BJP": Nana Patole

Mumbai: Any attempt to form an anti-BJP front without the Congress will indirectly help the BJP, Maharashtra state party president Nana Patole said on Wednesday even as he extended his "best" wishes for a likely "Shiv Sena-NCP alliance" for the 2024 elections.

Talking to reporters at Faizpur in Jalgaon district, Patole said such a front was not possible without the Congress.

"Any attempt to do so will indirectly help the BJP," he said.

He also said elections were three years away and COVID-19 management was the priority of his party.

In 2019, the Congress tied-up with the Shiv Sena and NCP to form government in Maharashtra under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray.

Last week, Patole caused a flutter in the ruling alliance in Maharashtra by saying the Congress will contest future elections on its own.

All India Congress Committee's Maharashtra in-charge H K Patil recently asked the state party unit to focus on strengthening the organisation and leave the decision on alliances or going solo in future polls to the party high command.

On Wednesday, Patole said the welfare of farmers and youth, who are facing the "crisis of unemployment", was the Congress's priority.

"I have already spoken about elections and the message has reached the party workers. Elections are three years away and I will not speak on it. We will highlight misdeeds of the Narendra Modi government in handling the COVID-19 pandemic and the neglect of farmers," he said.

In a veiled jibe at the Congress, Chief Minister and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said people would "beat with footwear" those who only talk about contesting elections alone without offering solutions to people's problems.

An editorial in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' recently said there is no harm in contesting polls independently, but everyone should check the ground beneath.

Patole said, "Today we symbolically buried three (controversial) farm laws of the Centre. A Congress meeting in Faizpur led by (former prime minister) Jawaharlal Nehru and other senior leaders of the freedom movement had deliberated on how farmers' policies should be framed, and the need of the hour is the revisit that."