A day after the Congress Working Committee showed “the exit” to anti-incumbent Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil on Monday morning (December 01) resigned from his chair. Patil termed the abdication as a decision taken as per his conscience and there was no pressure on him to quit.

Patil, an NCP leader who was also in-charge of the state home ministry, said that he pondered over the issue the whole last night and finally, decided to quit as per his conscience. However, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar asked Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to accept Patil’s resignation.

Patil was under severe criticism following the terror attacks and a remark he gave on Saturday intensified the situation. On Saturday, Patil had described the Mumbai terror attack as a "small incident" that "can happen in big cities.”  Patil hails from Sangli district in western Maharashtra.

Earlier, on Sunday, Congress Working Committee asked senior Congress leader Shivraj Patil to resign from the chair of Union Home Minister, in light of the Mumbai and other terror strikes in the country.