Mumbai: Maharastra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil, who was in the cross hairs in the wake of the Mumbai terror attacks, resigned on 1 December.

“I have submitted my resignation letter to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh. I have gone by my conscience and decided to take this step,” Patil told PTI.

“I pondered over the issue the whole night yesterday. Finally, I have decided to quit as per my conscience,“ Patil said.

Patil’s resignation follows the exit of the Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, who put in his papers to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh yesterday, after the Congress Working Committee spoke disapprovingly of the Home Minister, in light of the Mumbai carnage and other terror strikes in the country.

The Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister, who was also in charge of the state Home Ministry, was under severe criticism following the terror attacks with opposition Shiv Sena and BJP demanding his resignation alleging that he failed to handle the situation.

Patil belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party and hails from Sangli district in western Maharashtra.