Karnataka - Bijapur   

Congress group thwarts Ravikant Patil’s plan

BIJAPUR: The former MLA Ravikant Patil, who was keen on joining the Congress along with the former Deputy Chief Minister M.P. Prakash in Bangalore on Saturday, could not do so, apparently in the wake of opposition by local Congress workers.

Mr. Patil, who represented Indi Assembly segment as an independent for three consecutive times, was associate member of the Janata Dal (Secular) in the previous Assembly but distanced himself from it after the party leadership decided to pull down the B.S. Yeddyurappa-led Government in November last.

In fact, many senior leaders in the District Congress Committee were in favour of his admission hoping that it would also help party prospects in the surrounding segments as he belongs to Panchamasali community, a sub-caste among Lingayats, which is predominant in the district.

However, according to sources, senior leaders including former MLC B.G. Patil Halasangi and former zilla panchayat president Yashwantraygouda Patil, who are aspirants of the party nomination in the coming elections, were opposed to the entry of the former MLA.

They even reportedly threatened to resign en-masse if he was allowed to join the party. Their contention was that the Congress workers in the taluk had been fighting Mr. Patil all these years, and he was not acceptable to them. Also, the neighbouring Sholapur politics came in the way of his entry into the Congress. Mr. Patil and his elder brother Ratikant Patil, who is Shiv Sena MLA from South Sholapur segment, have been pitted against senior Congress leader and Union Minister Sushilkumar Shinde in Sholapur politics for many years.Mr. Patil’s supporters claim that he himself chose not to join the Congress at this stage as he wanted to keep his options open.

However, according to sources, the Congress door is almost shut for him, and he has now been trying to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Sources in the BJP said the party might give him ticket but it was not ready to nominate his supporters.

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Congress group thwarts Ravikant Patil’s plan

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