Guj NCP gen sec Bharat Pathak resigns

VADODARA, Feb 2 (UNI) General secretary of the Gujarat unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Bharat Pathak, has resigned from his post protesting against party president Sharad Pawar's pre-poll alignment with the Congress.

Pathak told UNI today that he had tendered his resignation to state party president Sanat Mehta on the ground that he could not be a party to the tie-up with the Congress as the decision was taken against the very ideology on the basis of which the NCP was formed.

Pathak said though he had not yet decided about joining any political party along with his supporters, breakaway NCP leader PA Sangma would be his first priority.

When asked, Mehta, who has just undergone a heart surgery, said he talked to Pathak over phone today as an elderly friend in a bid to persuade him to withdraw his resignation but to no avail.

Pathak was emotional as he was hurt because of the party chief's stand, Mehta said, and asserted that his party still stuck to its stand on the issue of Sonia Gandhi's foreign origin.

Pathak, who is a veteran trade union activist, also criticised Sharad Pawar for joining hands with the Congress, which he called 'petty political gain by throwing the party's ideology and principles through the window'.