KDCC chief criticises Rane

Kolhapur, Aug 9 (UNI) Kolhapur District Congress Committee (KDCC) president P N Patil today criticised Maharashtra revenue minister Narayan Rane, who tendered his resignation from the post, for making public the state Cabinet's decision over Videocon land allotment issue.

Addressing a news conference here, Mr Patil, who is also MLA, said Mr Rane spent most of his political lifetime in the Opposition party.

He was revenue minister during the the Shiv Sena-BJP government, led by Manohar Joshi.

Mr Rane cajoled Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray that they would not regain the power in the state under Mr Joshi's leadership, prompting Mr Thackeray to replace Mr Joshi with Mr Rane as chief minister.

However, in the state assembly elections, Mr Rane failed to retain the power, he alleged.

Now Mr Rane is making similar claims that the Congress will not retain power in the state in the assembly elections due next year under Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, Mr Patil added.

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