Supporters of P N Patil claimed that he had been with the party for 40 years, yet he was ignored during the ca... Read More

KOLHAPUR: Several office-bearers of Kolhapur district Congress have announced that they would resign as MLA P N Patil has been denied a ministerial berth.

Patil recently got elected as the MLA from Karvir assembly constituency. He was district Congress president for 20 years and was made state deputy president before the assembly elections. The supporters of P N Patil claimed that he has been with the party for last 40 years and yet was ignored during the cabinet expansion.

The supporters want Patil to resign from Congress and subsequently as MLA. His supporters had gathered at a multi-purpose hall in Phulewadi to express their disgruntlement.

One of his supporters, who was at the meeting, said, “Patil has been with the party during its good times and tough days. We were expecting him to be appointed minister in 2004 itself. Despite being denied the ministerial berth, he remained loyal to the party and worked as district president. Now, we want him to tender his resignation.”

The chiefs of three taluka units of Congress, a district woman president and several other office-bearers attended the meeting and agreed to resign soon. Patil was not available for his comment.

However, one of his close aides said he will talk to the supporters and then finalise his stand and future course of action in three to four days. “He has not met the supporters yet. He will form his opinion after that and in next three to four days he will speak in public,” the aide said.

In the meeting, district women head of Congress Supriya Salokeh, Karvir tehsil president Shankarrao Patil, Radhanagari tehsil president Hindurao Chougale, Ajara tehsil president Namdeo Narvekar, party co-ordinator for Radhanagari assembly constituency Sushil Patil-Kavlavkar and Seva Dal president Subhash Patil Sirsekar decided to tender their resignations to district Congress president Satej Patil . Also, several students leader vowed to support P N Patil and they too will resign from the student’s wing-National Students Union of India.

The district Congress party is divided into factions. The factions led by P N Patil and Satej Patil are major factions. Satej Patil is credited for the spectacular performance of the party in recent assembly election.

