Senior Congress leader and leader of opposition in Maharashtra legislative assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil took everyone by surprise when he heaped praises on Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the BJP-led government in the state, recently in Shirdi.
Vikhe Patil said he has many friends in the current ministry than in the previous one of which he was a senior member. He also went on to say he trusted Fadnavis and firmly believed that politics should not become an obstacle in the path of development.
Sure, there's nothing wrong with the views expressed by the leader of opposition. They are most suitable on an all-party platform where issues concerning state and governance are being discussed. That unfortunately wasn't the case. Vikhe Patil was speaking when Fadnavis had come to visit former's constituency to launch a project.
What raised many eyebrows in the Congress circles were not Vikhe Patil's remarks about his long friendship with the chief minister, but that ministers in the BJP-led government were dearer to him than his own cabinet colleagues in the previous Congress-NCP government.
Vikhe Patil thus has become second senior Congress leader, after Narayan Rane, to openly praise Fadnavis and his ministry at a time when the Congress in the state is about to launch another agitation against the recent farm loan waiver package announced by the chief minister. The Congress claimed that the package announced is bogus and an attempt to cheat farmers.
Is it common for the leader of opposition to praise the government just because the chief minister happened to be in his constituency to launch a water supply project? Or is there more to it than meets the eye.
Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan has reprimanded Vikhe Patil and sought an explanation from him. A meeting of senior Congress leaders was critical of Vikhe Patil's conduct at a time when state unit was planning to launch a renewed offensive against the government in the state legislature as well as outside.
Vikhe-Patil has claimed that his remarks were twisted by the media.
Beyond seeking an explanation, the Congress cannot do much. If Vikhe Patil leaves the party along with his group of legislators, the Congress will face double embarrassment in the form of a senior leader walking out, thus forcing the party give up its claim on the post of the leader of opposition in the legislative council. The Congress simply cannot afford to lose a senior leader like him, and Vikhe Patil, being a shrewd politician, knows it only too well.
