Revenue minister extends apology to BJP workers

Mumbai: Revenue minister Chandrakant Patil has extended an apology to his party workers for his controversial statement a few weeks ago when he said in Marathwada that the government wanted to appoint people on statutory bodies but was failing to get good political workers from BJP as the same had become a rare species now.

Mr Patil’s statement had disturbed the BJP cadre  ever since. Finally, Mr Patil brought down the curtain on the issue by extending an apology to workers. With a view to pacifying angry workers, Mr Patil’s apology has even been printed in the current issue of Manogat, the Maharashtra Bharatiya Janata Party magazine. It tries to explain how the minister’s statement was misquoted in the media.

“I was talking to 1,300 teachers in Beed on that day. I emphasised the need for character building as it is necessary for society. It was there that I said that we need such good people in important posts but nowadays, such people have to be found using a telescope as they are rare.”

Mr Patil further said that the process to select people for appointment to statutory bodies had already started in the state.

“It has been done on the direction of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. This process will be completed in the month of January only.” That said, Mr Patil extended an apology to party workers saying, “It was not my intention to make a comment on party workers. I am sorry if anyone felt hurt by my statement.”

Appointment to statutory bodies has become a contentious issue. Generally, these are political appointments and many party workers get an opportunity to work on such key bodies. Given this backdrop, Mr Patil’s statement infuriated the BJP cadre.