Mumbai, Feb 13 (IANS): Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge on Thursday appointed former legislator Harshwardhan Sapkal as the president of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee replacing the incumbent Nana Patole. Sapkal’s appointment came after Patole submitted his resignation to the party high command recently.

Sapkal was elected to the state assembly in the 2014 Assembly elections from Buldhana constituency and before that, he had headed the Buldhana Zilla Parishad.

The Congress party’s central leadership has yet again appointed a leader from Vidarbha after Patole. Vidarbha had been Congress party’s bastion but after 2014, the BJP increased its dominance. Sapkal hails from the Maratha community.

By appointing Sapkal, the party hopes to promote its revival ahead of ensuing local and civic body elections in Maharashtra which are likely to place after monsoon. Congress had done well in the Lok Sabha elections in Vidarbha and Maharashtra by winning a total of 13 seats but failed to continue its victory march in the Assembly elections.

Sapkal faces a major challenge to rejuvenate the party organisation and regain its past glory by bringing all factions together to take on the BJP-led MahaYuti.

Sapkal’s appointment has been made almost two and half months after the Congress party’s drubbing in the Maharashtra Assembly elections held last year. Party, which fought under Patole’s leadership, could win only 16 seats.

Even though Congress remained a big brother, the seat sharing talks with allies Shiv Sena-UBT and NCP-SP dragged on for a long time when the MahaYuti partners BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP reached seat arrangement and started poll campaign.

The Congress was plagued with factionalism but the widening gap between the veterans and the young leaders severely impacted party’s performance in the Assembly poll.

Despite the party’s poor showing, the central leadership allowed Patole to lead the party which is still struggling to digest the loss, especially after the defeat of party veterans such as former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and former minister Balasaheb Thorat.

Apart from Sapkal, the names of Prithviraj Chavan and former minister of state Satej Patil were doing the rounds for the post of MPCC president. However, both had expressed their inability to take up the charge.

Meanwhile, Congress high command has appointed a veteran party leader and former leader of opposition Vijay Wadettiwar as the Congress Legislature Party leader.

Wadettiwar had assumed the post of leader of opposition in the state twice while he was the minister in the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government. Wadettiwar’s appointment comes ahead of the Budget session of the state legislature which will start from March 3 in Mumbai. Wadettiwar is from the OBC community.

Patole had evinced interest to become the legislature party leader. But party has not considered his name to avoid resentment by the elected members.

The Congress tired to strike a balance by appointing a Maratha community representative as state unit chief and an OBC to head the state legislature party. This its important especially against the backdrop of ongoing protests over Maratha and OBC reservation.