Vikhe Patil broke promise on campaigning for Cong, says Kharge

The Congress' general secretary in charge of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge Saturday accused colleague Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil of reneging on his promise to campaign for the party in the state.

Vikhe Patil, whose son Sujay is the BJP Lok Sabha candidate from Ahmednagar seat, had recently resigned as the Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Assembly.

"After his son joined the BJP, Vikhe Patil had told the party that he would not campaign for the NCP in Ahmednagar but would canvass for Congress candidates elsewhere. He hasn't kept the promise," Kharge told reporters here.

He said Ahmednagar parliamentary seat was part of the NCP's quota and the Congress couldn't snap the alliance for just one seat.

"In larger interests, we need to sacrifice something. In my state of Karnataka, we had to forgo our sitting seat Tumkur since (former Prime Minister) H D Deve Gowda wanted to contest from there," Kharge said.

On being asked about possible action against Vikhe Patil, Kharge said a decision on it would be taken after the polls are over, adding that "proper procedure" would be followed on the issue.

Chavan, who was also present, said there were complaints against Vikhe Patil from local leaders in Ahmednagar and Shirdi and an "appropriate decision" would taken at an "appropriate time".

Vikhe Patil campaigned for his son in the Ahmednagar seat as well as for Shiv Sena's Shirdi Lok Sabha candidate Sadashiv Lokhande.