Resigned from Congress for personal reasons: Vikhe Patil

Veteran Maharashtra leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil who on Tuesday resigned from the Congress party and is likely to join the BJP said he quit for personal reasons. He added that he met with Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis earlier in the day to discuss personal matters.

"It was my personal decision to resign from the MLA position, I submitted my resignation to the Governor. I met the Chief Minister for some other work which is not related to politics neither is there any offer for me to join BJP," Patil told ANI. Patil denied having any issues with Congress' state or central leadership and said he was happy with whatever decisions the party took.

"I have no complaints with the central leadership. They gave me opportunities and I worked in a faithful manner. It is well within the right of party president to give a ministry to someone or not, I don't want to comment on that," he said. Earlier in the day, Patil resigned as a Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA).

Patil had resigned from the post of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly in April. He, however, said that he has no issue with the party leadership.

"I didn't campaign for the party during the Lok Sabha election. I don't doubt the high command. I was given the opportunity to become the Leader of Opposition. I tried to do good work but the situation has compelled me to resign," Patil told media persons in the morning after resigning. The Congress won only one of Maharashtra's 48 Lok Sabha seats, while the BJP-Shiv-Sena combine won 41. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)