"I sought permission from the party leadership two months ago to resign and when Chavan was told to contest the Council instead of Assembly by-election, I pursued the matter with the party and yesterday got the permission to resign," Dutt told reporters after resigning as MLC. He claimed that he was not asked to resign by the party.

"There is no politics behind my decision. I was never interested in a Rajya Sabha berth. The party has given me much more than I deserved," Dutt said. He said he will continue to be active in the party organisation.

"I don't consider my decision as sacrifice. I only paved the way for the Chief Minister who has a foresight and vision for Maharashtra," he added. To a query, Dutt said the party had not sidelined former Solapur MLA Anandrao Devkate who vacated his seat for Sushilkumar Shinde in 2003, when he replaced Vilasrao Deshmukh as Chief Minister.

"Devkate is a senior leader and has not been sidelined. He has been given important positions in the party and is currently observer for Beed district for the ensuing Zilla Parishad polls," Dutt said.