Govindrao Adik
Govindrao Wamanrao Adik is a former President of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee and a Member of Parliament, in the Rajya Sabha. He previously served as an Agriculture Minister in the Maharashtra Cabinet from 2003 to 2005. He is a younger brother of the former Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, late Ramrao Adik.
Biography
Govindrao Adik, was a close associate of Sharad Pawar before Pawar split from the Indian National Congress (INC) to form his independent base, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Like many leaders at the time, Adik remained in the INC after the split. He commands a substantial mass support in rural, specially western Maharashtra. Recently Adik welcomed the appointment of Ashok Chavan as Chief Minister of Maharashtra and expressed hope that he would retain his clean image and put the party back on track. However, in 2009 Adik was expected to be inducted into the state cabinet by the Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, a change was made during the final hour which brought in another Congressman Shri Radhekrishna Vikhe Patil the son of former Union Minister Shri Balasaheb Vikhe Patil into the Cabinet. This sudden exclusion of his name from the list disappointed Adik, who had been expecting a Ministerial berth ever since 2005.
Quits INC
Being one of the longest serving leader in the INC and a senior member, Adik felt abandoned by the party leadership. Expressing discontent about senior party members being isolated by the INC, in a letter to the United Progressive Alliance Chairperson, Sonia Gandhi, Govindrao Adik resigned from the Congress Party membership on the February 29 to join the NCP. On 15 March he addressed a rally in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra with the NCP President Sharad Pawar, where he urged the entire state to back the NCP.