A Congress meeting called to finalise the name of Ratnagiri district President reportedly saw angry exchange of words between party leaders Narayan Rane and Ashok alias Bhai Jagtap today.
According to Congress sources, Jagtap opposed the name of Nilesh, Narayan Rane's elder son, for the post. This angered Narayan Rane, who entered into a verbal duel with his party colleague.
Narayan Rane "scolded" Jagtap in the meeting held at Gandhi Bhavan here in the presence of Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan, they said.
However, party leaders claimed it was not a war of words but differences of opinions over the names for the post.
Chavan had called a meeting of Ratnagiri and Nagpur District Congress Committees to appoint their respective Presidents.
According to the sources, during the meeting, there was a rift between Narayan Rane, Jagtap and Husain Dalwai, a member of Rajya Sabha, over the name of Ratnagiri district Congress President. Four names were proposed - Mangesh Shinde, Ibrahim Dalwai, Sanjay Reddy and Nilesh.
Jagtap opposed Nilesh's name for the post, they said.
"His (Jagtap) objection was Nilesh is an outsider; he is not from Ratnagiri (The Ranes hail from adjoining Sindhudurg district). He also said the party has given more than enough to the Rane family in politics," he said.
However, Jagtap denied any rift with Narayan Rane, an MLC, and said everybody has right to suggest names. "In politics, everybody has right to push the name of his followers (for party posts) and I did the same. It does not mean anything went wrong in the meeting," maintained Jagtap.
Narayan Rane also denied any rift.
"We had a discussion over names. Some leaders opposed some names and that's why my voice might may have been loud," the former Chief Minister said.
He said nothing went wrong in the meeting and claimed most of the leaders had a "consensus" over Nilesh's name.
Asked whether the name for the post has been finalised, he said Chavan will take the final decision.
Asked about the entire episode, Chavan merely said Narayan Rane is an aggressive leader and thus has a loud voice.
Chavan said all vacant posts in the State unit of the party would be filled soon.
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