No discussion on opposition leader's post at Maharashtra Congress meeting; party decides to 'wait and watch'

Mumbai: The Congress Legislature Party (CLP) meeting on Tuesday didn't discuss the issue of the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly and has decided to take a "wait and watch" approach amid political developments in the state, a senior leader said.

It was earlier said that the Congress might discuss the issue of staking claim to the post of LoP after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar resigned from the post and joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government.

At the CLP meeting held at Vidhan Bhavan here, the Congress decided to work for strengthening the party as well as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of which it is one of the constituents along with NCP and Shiv Sena (UBT), the leader said.

The meeting was attended by AICC incharge of Maharashtra HK Patil and 39 out of 45 MLAs including CLP leader Balasaheb Thorat.

"We will strengthen the MVA and the Congress. We have supported Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. We will wait and watch how developments unfold in the coming days," said HK Patil.

He said no discussion was held on the post of the Leader of the Opposition.

Patil also said Congress will work to highlight the issues of people and stay united to fight BJP and "the unconstitutional and unethical government".

At the meeting, Thorat, former chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan, state Congress president Nana Patole and others paid homage to party MP Suresh Dhanorkar who died recently.

Ajit Pawar joined the Shiv Sena-BJP government on Sunday as deputy chief minister while eight other NCP MLAs took oath as ministers.

Notably, the NCP, led by Sharad Pawar, has appointed MLA Jitendra Awhad as the LoP.

Sharad Pawar on Monday said the Congress, a constituent of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, was justified in claiming the post of LoP.

The NCP has 53 MLAs in the 288-member Assembly.