Nagpur: Displeasure among Congress party activists became prominently evident when they found out that a senior hardcore Congress aficionado, Former President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) Ranjeet Deshmukh was not invited to the Public Meeting slated to be addressed by Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi on April 12, 2016.
Ranjeet Deshmukh, who had served as the Agriculture Minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh cabinet between 1999-2004 had also held other portfolios. He had held the position as State Unit President of the party on two occasions.
Interestingly, Deshmukh’s younger son Ashish Deshmukh had contested the October 15 Assembly Elections on BJP ticket from Katol constituency against his uncle Anil Deshmukh, a senior NCP leader and the Food and Civil Supplies Minister during the dissolved Democratic Front (DF) Government.
Another son of Deshmukh, Amol Deshmukh, a medical professional, is an NCP candidate from Ramtek constituency where he is pitted against Congress nominee and former Union Minister for Heavy Industries Subodh Mohite. Deshmukh had quit Congress three times in his career and returned to the party fold again.
Sources in the party circles said that the party leadership has taken serious cognizance of his sons shifting their camps to the rivals of Congress in elections. This could be the reason for not inviting Ranjeet Deshmukh to the general meeting slated to be held in Nagpur.
– By Rajeev Ranjan Kushwaha
