Maharashtra Congress chief enthuses rank and file, makes NCP, Sena jittery

''Our line is fixed. We have begun preparations to go it alone," says Nana Patole

Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole’s refrain that the party will go it alone in future polls is giving headaches not only to his coalition allies, the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena but sections within his party in the State as well. “Our line is fixed…we have suffered many setbacks in the past and we want to avoid a debacle like the 2014 general elections. Keeping that in mind, we have begun preparations,” said Mr. Patole on Wednesday, in a riposte to Mr. Pawar and the NCP. His remarks alluded to the clandestine understanding between the BJP and the NCP before the 2014 general elections that had resulted in the crumbling of the hitherto unbroken polar alliances in Maharashtra, the Sena–BJP (since 1989) and the Congress-NCP (since 1999) and led to all four parties contesting separately.