Congress faces growing crisis in Maharashtra as more leaders consider quitting after recent exits

PUNE: Maharashtra Congress is facing a huge challenge in keeping its flock together after the poor show in assembly election. With two of its staunch loyalists, Udaysinh Patil Undalkar and Sangram Thopte, quitting the party, sources said a few more members were on the verge of leaving too, making the road ahead tougher for the party in the state.

Undalkar has sided with Ajit Pawar's NCP, while former MLA Thopte is set to join BJP on Tuesday. According to sources in Congress, there are at least four to five senior members who are contemplating joining Mahayuti constituents.

"These members are not in a mindset of being in opposition for the next five years. They want to be in the parties, which are part of govt even if they need to make a big ideological shift," a senior Congress member told TOI.

Before the Lok Sabha poll, senior Congress members, including Ashok Chavan, Milind Deora and late Baba Siddique, left the party. Now, the senior party members fear that a similar trend is likely to continue.

"The party had high hopes from the assembly poll, but it was a disaster. It is sad that after the assembly election, the central leadership has not given enough attention to the state to identify and rectify the issues within the party," the senior party member said.

State Congress president Harshwardhan Sapkal will have a tough time reviving the party in view of the current situation. Admitting that the party was in a precarious situation, Sapkal said, "We have also got the inputs that some members are planning to leave the party, but none of them are sitting MLAs. The current situation is tough, but we will stick to our party's ideology and make efforts in rebuilding the party from the block level."