Hours after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Nana Patole resigned, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) said on Friday that the Gondia-Bhandara Lok Sabha seat belongs to it and the party would discuss the issue of a bypoll with the Congress.
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Mr. Patole, who had defeated NCP’s Praful Patel in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, resigned on Friday afternoon, following disagreements with BJP’s policies on farmers and agriculture.
‘BJP inefficient’
NCP State president Sunil Tatkare said, “The Nana Patole episode exposes BJP’s lack of seriousness about farmers’ issues. It was because of the BJP’s inefficiency and anti-farmer policies that Mr. Patole had to quit. He was dissatisfied with the BJP’s way of functioning, and he was expressing his emotions for months now.”
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When asked whether the NCP will contest the bypoll in the constituency, Mr. Tatkare said the seat belongs to the NCP. “Through a seat-sharing formula, this seat belongs to us. We will hold talks with the Congress on this issue, and I am sure we will find a way out,” he said.
Double standards
The NCP leader took the opportunity to target the Shiv Sena. “Sena has been targeting the BJP over farmers’ issue, by threatening to quit on every occasion. But that never seems to happen. And here we have Mr. Patole, who, despite being from the BJP wasted no time in resigning,” he said.
He also criticised the Sena for its support to the protests against the oil refinery project in Konkan. “The Sena has absolute double standards. On the one hand, it enjoys power through its ministers in the State and at the Centre, and on the other it opposes government projects,” he said.