BJP Maharashtra MP Nana Patole quits party, Lok Sabha
BJP Maharashtra MP Nana Patole cited the NDA govt's failure in a number of ways including in agriculture, farm distress, economy and unemployment
New Delhi: Nana Patole, a Bharatiya Janata Party lawmaker from Maharashtra, resigned from the party and Lok Sabha on Friday, citing the government’s failure in a number of ways including in agriculture, farm distress, economy and unemployment.
Patole, a member of parliament (MP) from the Bhandara-Gondiya constituency, has been a known critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and has often hit out at the NDA government’s policy decisions.
Formerly a Congress legislator, Patole joined the BJP in the run up to the 16th Lok Sabha elections and defeated Praful Patel, senior leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
On Friday, Patole sent his resignation letter to Lok Sabha speaker Sumitra Mahajan, citing more than a dozen issues over which he was resigning as an MP. This was followed by a press conference at the national capital’s New Maharashtra Sadan, where he spoke about his reasons for quitting.
“Today I have submitted my resignation to the Lok Sabha speaker. I have also resigned from primary membership of the BJP. Ever since this government came to power, it has been misleading people. Be it farmers’ issues, demonetisation or GST. People elected this government with lot of hopes but they have betrayed those hopes," he told reporters.
“I tried raising these issues in the party but they used pressure tactics to curb my voice. There is a campaign underway to curb dissent and opposing voices. These are not my personal issues. They are public issues and I represent people. So instead of staying with these people who have no sympathy for people and time to address their concerns, I have decided to quit. I will work among the people. I have not so far decided to join any other party," he added.
Soon after this, Patole was scheduled to meet Congress’s senior Maharashtra leader Mohan Prakash, fuelling speculation that he may cross over to the party.
Patole’s resignation from Lok Sabha and BJP came a day before the first phase of polling in Gujarat.
Abhiram Ghadyalpatil in Mumbai and PTI contributed to the story.
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