NEW DELHI: A rebellion in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has come out in the open after its member of Parliament from Gondia in Maharashtra Nana Patole resigned from the House with immediate effect from Friday.
Tendering his resignation, he blamed the government's inability to tackle agrarian distress, demonetisation and Goods and Services Tax (GST) as reasons for his decision. he cited 14 issues as reasons in his letter to Lok Sabha Speaker Sumitra Mahajan.
The rebel BJP has been openly attacking the BJP over farmer issues. He had also met Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray in October.
Critical of the state government, he has also been taking potshots at Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He alleged that he had time and again raised the issues with the prime minister but they were ignored.
Patole has been a member of other parties, including the Congress, in the past. He had joined the BJP before the 2014 Lok Sabha elections in which he defeated NCP heavyweight Praful Patel from Bhandara-Gondiya constituency.
"The objectives with which I had joined the (BJP) party have been belied, but now (post-quitting) I am free of the turmoil in my mind," Patole said shortly after submitting his resignation letter to the Lok Sabha Secretariat.
He said he had not made up his mind on which party to join but would consider throwing his lot with "some like-minded" political outfit.
Patole created a sensation in September when he told a public function that Modi doesn`t like to be questioned and criticised.
He also alleged that all central ministers "were always in a state of fear" and that he was "on the hit list but I am not afraid of anyone".
The resignation comes just a day ahead of the first phase of voting in the key Gujarat election on December 9. The second phase of elections will be held on December 14 and counting will be held on December 18.
