Cong to bar lost civic candidatesfrom co-opted posts, says Patole

Nagpur: The Congress will no longer nominate candidates defeated in civic elections as co-opted members in municipal bodies, senior leader Nana Patole said on Wednesday, signalling a tightening of internal accountability norms.Patole said the decision was taken at a party meeting held in Mumbai earlier in the day under Maharashtra in charge Ramesh Chennithala and MPCC president Harshwardhan Sapkal. "The move was aimed at discouraging complacency and reinforcing electoral responsibility within the organisation," he told TOI.
The announcement comes amid introspection within the state unit following a political setback in Chandrapur, where the Congress emerged as the single largest party in local body elections but failed to form the governing dispensation and install a mayor. The BJP pulled off a coup with the help of Shiv Sena (UBT).To examine the circumstances that led to the loss of power, the party will constitute a panel to conduct an inquiry. Patole said the committee would review the sequence of events and recommend corrective measures to prevent a recurrence.Congress chief spokesperson Atul Londhe described the episode as a "fiasco", attributing the outcome to internal infighting. "Despite having the largest number of seats, we lost the chance to elect a mayor due to internal squabbles. The panel would probe everything that led to the party's failure to install the mayor," he said.