An open demand for his expulsion was made by Shiv Sena legislator Shishir Shinde who said he would personally call on Thackeray with his request.

``During a meeting of party legislators convened by Uddhav Thackeray, I had brought the activities of Mukesh Patel to the notice of party leaders. For the last two years, his contribution for the party has been almost negligible,'' Shinde alleged.

In fact, after the Rajya Sabha elections, Thackeray had instructed Housing Minister Sureshdada Jain to ask Patel to resign in view of the charges against him. However, the Sena chief did not press the matter.

Patel for his part termed Shinde's allegation as `unfortunate'. ``I have read in the newspapers the allegations levelled by Shinde against me. It is unfortunate that despite faithfully servingthe party for more than 12 years, he is calling me a traitor and has directly blamed me for the large scale cross voting in the June 18 Rajya Sabha elections,'' Patel told The Indian Express.

Patel said that while he had no plans to quit the Rajya Sabha following the ``virtual vilification campaign'' against him by a section of the party workers, he would resign the moment Thackeray asked him to do so. But ``I have no plans to meet Thackeray in the near future to explain my position,'' Patel added.

According to a senior Shiv Sena leader, in the event Thackeray asks him to resign, Patel is likely to submit a conditional resignation letter. ``Patel will submit that the charge of encouraging cross voting in the Rajya Sabha elections be probed. If the charge is proved, he will quit immediately without waiting for Thackeray's orders. However, if it is not proved, then Shinde should be sacked from the party,'' the Sena leader said.

Patel, who was provided with Z category security two years ago at theinstance of the Central government, was till recently one of Thackeray's most trusted aides. He was consulted by the Sena chief on major policy decisions and was directly responsible for the revival of the Rs 10,000 crore Enron power project. True to its promise, the alliance government had dumped the power project. However, later, it was Patel who arranged for Enron chief Rebecca Mark to meet Thackeray and convinced the Sena chief of the need to revive the project.

Referring to the charge of cross voting, the Sena leader said it was true that Patel helped newspaper baron Vijay Darda win the election. But, he pointed out, Thackeray was informed about it well in advance. ``There was no question of cross voting. Darda got his assured votes from the Janata Dal in addition to those of the Independents,'' the Sena leader added.

Before the Parliamentary elections, Patel had explained to Thackeray the need to support Darda's candidature, he said. Thackeray did not object then, but after the Parliamentaryelections when Suresh Kalmadi approached him for help the Sena supremo changed his mind and declared his party's support to the former railway minister.

In view of this decision, Patel should have extended support to Kalmadi instead of Darda, the Sena leader said, adding ``it was wrong on the part of Patel to act against the wishes of the party chief''.