Disappointed after the Raigad Lok Sabha seat was handed over to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), former Maharashtra chief minister and veteran Congress leader A R Antulay launched a scathing attack against the NCP and its candidate Sunil Tatkare here today.
"I made him (Tatkare) the district president of Raigad. I also gave him the ticket to contest Maharashtra Assembly polls and helped him win the election," Antulay told reporters.
He said Tatkare's property should be checked when he was the state district president. "Now he owns 150 companies. From where has he acquired this property and where did the money come from? I have never heard about a person having 150 companies in his name," he said.
He also attacked the Congress for swapping the seat with the NCP.
"While leaving the seat to Tatkare, the Congress should have asked for a candidate with a clean image," he said.
Earlier, Congress had given only half of Raigad district to the NCP, but now by swapping the seat with the NCP, it has handed over the entire district to the Sharad Pawar-led outfit, he said.
"I have been contesting from the Raigad seat since 1957. However, while giving away the seat to Tatkare and the NCP, the Congress did not ask me. I did not ask for that seat to be given to myself or to my son. I had asked the party to give it to anybody who is a Congress candidate," he said.
"If they want to remove me from the party, then what can I say," the veteran Congress leader said, adding that he never expected anything from the Congress, after the death of the late Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi.
"I was made Maharashtra chief minister by Sanjay Gandhi. I did not expect anything from the party after Sanjay Gandhi's death," he said.
Earlier, during the day, MNS' Mumbai South candidate Bala Nandgaonkar and Peasants' and Workers' Party leader Jayant Patil met Antulay to seek his support for general elections.
