Jolt for Cong. as Bhosale quits party

PUNE: The Congress-NCP alliance, which is witnessing large-scale dissension in their stronghold of western Maharashtra, received another jolt on Wednesday after former Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Prataprao Bhosale resigned from the party.
Speaking from his residence at Bhuinj in Satara district, Bhosale, a former Satara MP, said he had quit on "moral grounds" after his son Madan, who heads the Congress district unit, decided to contest as an independent from Wai.
"It would not have been morally right on my part to stay in the Congress when my son has rebelled against the party," Bhosale added.
The NCP is fielding Makarand, son of Satara MP Laxmanrao Jadhav Patil, from the constituency.
Asked about the rebellion in the Congress in western Maharashtra, especially in Satara, Bhosale said the workers were agitated over non-allocation of enough seats. "Party activists had demanded five of the 10 seats in the district and later scaled down the demand to four. Still, the NCP leadership did not relent."