Lok Sabha Elections 2019: Vikhe-Patil skips Rahul’s rally in Sangamner

Congress state president Ashok Chavan said that the party had accepted Vikhe-Patil’s resignation as the opposition party leader, but he continued to be a member of the Congress

While stating that he was still with the Congress party, senior leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil stayed away from Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s rally at Sangamner in Ahmednagar district on Friday.

Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil stayed away from Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s rally at Sangamner in Ahmednagar district on Friday (HT/PHOTO)

“I submitted my resignation from the post of opposition party leader. However, I am a Congress party member,” he said in a text message. He, however, remained silent when asked why he skipped the party president Rahul Gandhi’s rally at Sangamner.

Congress state president Ashok Chavan said that the party had accepted Vikhe-Patil’s resignation as the opposition party leader, but he continued to be a member of the Congress.

Chavan declined to comment on Vikhe-Patil’s absence from Gandhi’s rally and said that the question should be asked to Vikhe-Patil.

The former leader of opposition in Maharashtra was in the thick of a political storm in the state ever since his son Sujay rebelled from the Congress and joined the BJP which has fielded him from the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency.

Signifying the importance of this seat for the BJP, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took a rally for Sujay at Ahmednagar.