Unease in Sena, NCP over growing Congress influence in Maharashtra: Patole

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole has sought to suggest the state government is keeping an eye over his movement and claimed that Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Shiv Sena and the NCP feel the ground was slipping from beneath their feet due to his party's growing influence.

Speaking at a meeting of party workers in Lonavala, a hill station around 125km from Mumbai, during the weekend, Patole said the Congress is resurrecting itself in Maharashtra and this has caused disquiet among the Shiv Sena and the NCP. The MPCC did not name the two MVA partners while making a reference about them in his speech. The Congress is part of the three-party Shiv Sena-led MVA government.

He also sought to hint that the government is keeping an eye on his activities. "Every morning at 9, intelligence report is submitted to the chief minister and the home minister on what is happening in the state. The Congress is resurrecting itself and the report is making the ground beneath their feet slip away. I am here in Lonavala but the report will go to them," he said. Meanwhile, Patole later told a Marathi news channel that his statement hinting at tracking of his movement has been misconstrued. "I have not made any comment that the state government is keeping a watch on me. My allegations were against the Centre. I will make a clarification when I return to Mumbai," he said.