Mumbai: In a major jolt to the Indian National Congress party in Maharashtra, party’s Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil resigned from his post on Tuesday. The development comes days after Vikhe Patil’s son, Sujay Vikhe Patil, had quit the Congress and joined the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who is considered to be the Maratha strongman for the Congress party, represents the Shirdi constituency. As per sources, Vikhe Patil has submitted his resignation to the top leadership of the party in the state.

There were strong speculations over the senior Congress leader’s departure from the Congress party after his son, Sujay, switched loyalties to join the Bharatiya Janata Party. Reportedly, Sujay had decided to join the BJP after the Sharad Pawar-led NCP decided to retain the Ahmednagar seat under the Congress-NCP alliance. Sources said that Sujay was keen on fighting the polls from the Ahmednagar seat.

As per reports, the veteran Congress leader has resigned citing "moral grounds". Reports also suggested that the senior leadership of the party had expressed dissatisfaction over the way Vikhe-Patil's concerns were handled.

On the other hand, the Shiv Sena has purportedly asked Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil to join the Uddhav Thackeray-led party.