Ashok Chavan’s exit from the Congress was a foregone conclusion for Congress leaders. State president Nana Patole must be relieved now as he will have one very powerful intra-party rival less in combat. Chavan and Patole have been in a cold war ever since the latter’s appointment. It is being said in party circles that Chavan’s shrewd ways, likened to those of a ‘silent assassin’, did not really allow Patole to settle down in the hot seat. They say Chavan did help the Congress but walked away with all the credit leaving Patole looking like a less accomplished state chief. Henceforth, Patole can preserve the energy he had been expending on his internal feud with Chavan. He can invest more energy instead on what he has been tasked with by the high command. But then, Patole has a few more rivals within the Congress to deal with. Patole, a leader sans charisma, has been riding on the ‘hyperbole’ approach. His ‘USP’, albeit outdated now, is that he had confronted Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the BJP MPs’ meeting. 

As far as defections are concerned, neither Patole nor the high command will be able to prevent leaders from leaving the party ahead of the elections. The defectors’ hot destination, the BJP, will cherry-pick, and leave the politically inconvenient people for its allies, the Shinde Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar). Chavan’s followers are in line. Some others may not necessarily be associated with the ex-CM.