The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Monday formed its own 'LGBT' (for homosexuals and transgenders) cell and claimed to be the first political party in the country to take such a step. Jayant Patil, Minister of Water Resources and State NCP President of Maharashtra Government announced the cell and advocated equal treatment of members of the LGBT community. He appointed Priya Patil as the head of the state unit of this cell.
"NCP first created a youth cell," the NCP said in a release quoting Jayant Patil. Now he has formed an LGBT cell for justice with the deprived sections. ”Patil made the announcement in an event at the party office here in which NCP Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule was also present. The statement said that apart from Priya Patil, the cell would have 13 other officials.