Nagpur, Dec 23 (IANS) Former deputy chief minister R.R. Patil was unanimously elected president of the Nationalist Congress Party's Maharashtra unit here Tuesday.
Outgoing state NCP president Arun Gujarathi, who quit the post on completion of his tenure Sunday, proposed Patil's name and senior party leaders Chhagan Bhujbal, Vijaysingh Mohite Patil and Ajit Pawar seconded it in the presence of party president Sharad Pawar.
The election was held at a specially convened meet of the party's Maharashtra unit in the state's second capital where the winter session of the legislature is underway.
Patil, who resigned as the Congress-NCP Democratic Front government's home minister in the wake of the 26/11 Mumbai terror strike, was initially reluctant to take up the responsibility but later relented after being persuaded by Pawar, party sources said.
Widely regarded as an honest and conscientious politician, Patil has been credited for NCP's good showing in the 2004 assembly elections which the party fought under his stewardship.
