The nomination of three-term Congress MLA and former Minister Vijay Wadettiwar as the new Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly signals the growing weight of the Vidarbha region within the Congress as well as in State politics.
An influential OBC (Other Backward Class) leader from Chandrapur district, Mr. Wadettiwar is known as a politically aggressive face of the party who has successfully resisted the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) onslaught in Vidarbha.
His selection by the party high command, after nearly a month of the LoP post remaining vacant, comes when the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition has been jolted by the desertion of NCP leader and erstwhile LoP Ajit Pawar, who joined the ruling BJP-Eknath Shinde government last month.
