Even as he asked his party to work out an alliance with the Congress for the coming local body elections,NCP president Sharad Pawar on Saturday slammed senior party leaders,including Home Minister RR Patil and Rural Development Minister Jayant Patil,for infighting. At a meeting of party district presidents,MLAs,MPs and state office-bearers,Pawar lamented that the party had regional satraps who were self-centred. He urged every party member to place the party and implementation of its policies for the benefit of the common man. Those who are expected to take the responsibility of the state are engaged in infighting. RR Patil and Jayant Patil are leaders whom the party is proud of. They should sit together and sort out issues instead of expecting someone from Delhi to come and settle their disputes. He criticised those leaders who were engaged in turf wars in various parts of the state. The meeting was convened to discuss the civic polls and internal fueds between RR and Jayant,Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal and former Nashik MP Devidas Pingale,Minister of State for Urban Development Bhaskar Jadhav (Ratnagiri) and Finance Minister Sunil Tatkare (Raigad) and Bhaskar Jadhav and local leader Ramesh Kadam in Ratnagiri. There are similar rifts in the party rank and file at Kolhapur and Ahmednagar. Pawar said there was an urgent need to look into such matters as it was hampering the party functioning. He called for meetings of municipal councillors,corporators,zilla parishad and panchayat samiti members soon to strengthen the party at the grassroots and win the civic polls.
