Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Nana Patole, tipped to be the next chief of the state unit of the Congress, resigned from his post on Thursday.
Legislature sources said Mr Patole handed over his resignation to deputy speaker Narhari Zhirwal.
Mr Patole, the MLA from Sakoli in Bhandara district, is likely to replace revenue minister Balasaheb Thorat as state Congress president soon, according to party sources.
The Congress shares power with the Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra.
A delegation of Congress ministers, headed by Mr Thorat, had recently met the party leadership in Delhi.
The budget session of the state legislature is to begin from March 1.
High-Security Jail To Come Up In Mumbai As State Passes Prison Reform Bill Rahul Gandhi Faces Delhi Police Crime Branch Probe Over Parliament Tussle 5 Killed, 27 Injured As Private Luxury Bus Carrying Wedding Guests Overturns In Maharashtra Google Slashes 10% Of Managerial Staff In Hunt For 'Googleyness': Report Hardeep Puri vs Shashi Tharoor Over 2009 Dinner With George Soros In US Tabla Legend Zakir Hussain's Funeral Held In San Francisco 16-Year-Old JEE Student From Bihar Found Hanging From Fan In Kota: Police UK PM Keir Starmer Nominates Indian-Origin Krish Raval For Peerage Key Ally To Canada PM Trudeau Says He Will Vote To Bring Him Down Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.