New Delhi, Feb 16 (IANS): The Congress on Thursday deputed senior party leader and former Kerala Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala to assess the political situation in Maharashtra where two Congress leaders, Balasaheb Thorat, the legislative party leader, and state unit president Nana Patole are at loggerheads.

Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge has deputed Chennithala to assess the latest political situation in Maharashtra and report to him with immediate effect, Congress General Secretary K.C. Venugopal said in a statement. 

In a damage-control move, Congress' Maharashtra in-charge H.K. Patil met Congress leaders separately in an attempt to defuse the ongoing crisis after CLP leader Thorat submitted his resignation.

The political upheavals rocked the state Congress ahead of the MLC elections in January, specifically linked with the Nashik Graduates Constituency, where the official party nominee, Sudhir Tambe, suddenly stepped down in favour of his son Satyajeet Tambe.

As the party tried to grapple with the situation, Satyajeet Tambe -- a nephew of Thorat -- won the seat as an Independent, trouncing Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) nominee Shubhangi Patil.

The Congress also got engaged in a fresh war of words with its MVA ally, Shiv Sena (UBT), after the latter blamed Patole's resignation as Speaker two years ago for triggering the crisis in the MVA which led to its collapse in June 2022.

Besides the Sena (UBT), even some Congressmen like Vijay Wadettiwar have pointed fingers at Patole for his 'hasty' decision to quit as Speaker following his appointment as state party president.