NCP's RR Patil attacks ally Congress, ridicules Congressmen

Dahanu, Maharashtra: Maharashtra's Home Minister RR Patil has come down heavily on his party's alliance partner, the Congress. Speaking while campaigning for his Nationalist Congress Party or NCP in the local elections here, the senior leader said, "Earlier Congressmen used to go to jail for the nation's cause, these days they go to jail for corruption cases." Mr Patil's remark is bound to worsen the already fragile relationship between the two parties.

In what seems to be a below the belt attack, Mr Patil added, "The Congress has contracted a disease and I have to say it even though they are our alliance partner."

In spite of being in alliance for the last two terms, the two parties have not shared a good relationship. NCP Chief Sharad Pawar's nephew and former Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar has often criticised Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan. After Ajit Pawar had to step down in the wake of allegations against him in the irrigation scam, the relationship has gone from bad to worse.

Ajit Pawar, who undertook a tour of the state soon after his resignation, earlier this month said, "I have always cleared files at a quick pace. It is not like others who want to keep files pending for vague reasons that I cannot understand. Perhaps they sit down and deeply study the files but I don't want to ascribe any reasons for this delay they make." This was seen as a veiled attack on the Chief Minister in political circles.

Reacting to Mr Patil's comments, State Congress Spokesperson Sachin Sawant told NDTV over the phone, "RR Patil must be talking about the Nationalist Congress Party."

Mr Patil's comments are bound to widen the rift between the two alliance partners.