Thorat says loyalty to Congress never wavered
Mumbai: Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat on Sunday said there was no need to pay heed to BJP leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil's comments that he contemplated joining the saffron party a few years back.
Vikhe Patil himself quit the Congress before the Assembly elections in the state this year and joined the BJP.
Both he and Thorat hail from Ahmednagar district, and are known to be bitter rivals.
Reacting to the BJP leader's claim, Thorat, who is a minister in the current Maharashtra government, said, "I never compromised on my principles and commitment towards the Congress. There is no need to give any importance to his comments."
He also took a swipe at Vikhe Patil's performance when he was leader of opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly from 2014 to 2019.
"The entire state knows what kind of work he did for the growth of the Congress as leader of the opposition.
However, I have always stayed with the Congress even in difficult times,"Thorat said.
"He (Vikhe Patil) is in the opposition now, hence free to comment on any issue without any responsibility," the Congress leader quipped.
Talking to reporters in Shirdi on Saturday, Vikhe Patil said, "Thorat was thinking of joining the BJP some three years ago. What he has got today (a Cabinet post) is by accident. He could not campaign outside his constituency during the Assembly polls."
Thorat is currently revenue minister in the Shiv Sena-led state government.
The Shiv Sena forged an alliance with the NCP and Congress to form government after parting ways with pre-poll ally BJP over the issue of sharing the chief ministerial post.
