Mumbai, October 03: A 90-year-old farmer is contesting the October 13 Assembly polls from Shirol constituency in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra as a Congress candidate, courtesy party general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
Satgonda Revgonda Patil, who was denied a party ticket from the same constituency in 2004, was given one this time after Rahul Gandhi suggested his name.
On March 4 last year, during a tour of western Maharashtra to study the plight of sugarcane growers, Rahul happened to visit Patil’s greenhouse.
The then 89-year-old’s zest impressed the young Congress MP, who suggested the party to nominate Patil for the Assembly polls, a Maharashtra unit party functionary said.
The nonagenarian is, however, not new to electoral politics.
Half a century ago, in 1957, he had won the Assembly polls against a Congress nominee.
–PTI