Congress reshuffle: KC Padvi to be Assembly Speaker; Amit Deshmukh to be appointed as state president?

Maharashtra Assembly Speaker Nana F. Patole resigned from his post here on Thursday evening. He submitted his resignation to Deputy Speaker Narhari S. Zhirwal, after a tenure of nearly 14 months in the august post.

After Patole's resignation it is being said that Tribal Development Minister K. C. Padvi will be appointed as Assembly Speaker while Medical Education Minister Amit Deshmukh will be appointed the state president. Nana Patole will be given a place in the cabinet, sources said.

Patole had met both Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and NCP top leaders before tendering his resignation as Speaker, but now a tug-of-war could be played over the crucial post among the three Maha Vikas Aghadi partners. A legislator from Sakoli in Bhandara district, Patole is expected to be named as the new state Congress head with the announcement coming from New Delhi, according to sop party sources here.

Patole is known to be an aggressive leader. It is being said that Patole had demanded that he should be given the post of state president. Sources say that different movements are actually taking place behind the scenes. There might be a plan to give Patole a seat in the cabinet and allot Padvi the chairmanship of the assembly.

A senior NCP leader clarified that when the MVA government was formed, it was unanimously decided to give the assembly seat to the Congress, so there will be no change.