Patil quits NCP over Naik’s inclusion, joins Cong

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 2: The Congress received a major boost on Wednesday following the decision of senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) lea...

MUMBAI, FEBRUARY 2: The Congress received a major boost on Wednesday following the decision of senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader D R Patil to join the Congress.

D R Patil, president of the NCP’s Navi Mumbai unit resigned to protest against the decision of the party to admit former Shiv Sena leader Ganesh Naik. Along with D R Patil, at least half a dozen corporators of the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation are also likely to join the Congress on Thursday. Naik had joined the NCP on Monday in presence of party president Sharad Pawar.

Meanwhile, in a retaliatory move, the Congress on Wednesday appointed 15 of its cabinet members as “liaison ministers” in districts where the party ministers have not been appointed as guardian ministers.

Making the announcement, Industries Minister Patangrao Kadam, who is also the Vice-President of the MPCC, said Housing Minister Rohidas Patil will be the liaison minister for Mumbai city, while Minister of State for Health Eknath Gaikwad will be in-charge of Thane. The other cabinet members are Arif Naseem Khan (Ratnagiri), Ranjit Deshmukh (Jalgaon), Balasaheb Thorat (Ahmednagar), Dr Patangrao Kadam (Pune), Anandrao Devkate (Solapur), Chandrakant Shivarkar (Satara), Rajendra Darda (Aurangabad), Ashok Chavan (Beed), Basavraj Patil (Hingoli), Vasudha Deshmukh (Buldhana), Manikrao Thakre (Washim), Anees Ahmed (Gondia) and Shivajirao Moghe (Gadchiroli).