MUMBAI: Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil, the son of senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil who is also the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra state assembly, finally joined the BJP on Tuesday in presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai.
Speculations were rife regarding Sujay joining BJP as he was reportedly upset over not being fielded by the party from Ahmednagar South Lok Sabha constituency. Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil had said last week that his son is free to take his own decision. His move comes after his meeting with state irrigation minister Girish Mahajan a couple of days back.
“I’m deeply pained while making this decision going against the wishes of my parents. I’ve been trying to speak to my father since last night but he hasn’t picked up my calls. I hope the news reaches to him through media,” Sujay said while speaking to media after joining the BJP. Sujay’s wife and sister accompanied him at the event.
CM Fadnavis said that recommendation for his name from Ahmednagar South Lok Sabha seat would be sent to party’s parliamentary board at Delhi. He also expressed confidence that the recommendation would be accepted by BJP’s central committee.
Dr Sujay is a practising surgeon and belongs to the fourth-generation of the Vikhe-Patil family that controls a vast network of milk, sugar, education and other cooperatives in Ahmednagar area making it the family’s stronghold.
Reacting to the development, state Congress spokesperson Ratnakar Mahajan said that the party has no role to play in the case. “The Congress has finalised its seat-sharing arrangement with Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra for the Lok Sabha election and the particular seat from where Sujay wanted to contest has gone to the NCP. Hence, there is no role of the party in his crossing over,” Mahajan said.
State Congress Chief Ashok Chavan, however, termed the development as the one that is detrimental to the democracy. “The BJP had always been undermining the democratic institutions and their behavior had remained undemocratic. The latest development too is indicative of that. The BJP has created a rift in the party and the family. This is detrimental to the democracy,” he said.
State Congress sources said that efforts were made on state as well as central level to avoid the embarrassing situation. Party president Rahul Gandhi even spoke to the NCP chief to leave the seat for the Congress, but that too didn’t work.
The Shiv Sena on the other hand has extended offer to Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil to join them while reminding him that he was minister of agriculture as a Shiv Sena MLA during the party’s government in the state between 1995-99.
NCP leader Sharad Pawar had earlier said that he had proved in the past that Vikhe-Patil family member can be defeated from Ahmednagar and hence it won’t make much difference to his party even if Sujay joins the BJP.
Sitting BJP MP Dilip Gandhi, whose supporters had staged demonstrations in front of CM Devendra Fandavis yesterday, however, was not available for comment.
More trouble for Congress
Meanwhile, in an unrelated development, a group of Dalit intellectuals and activists from Nagpur have written to the Congress leadership against fielding former BJP MP Nana Patole from the city against Union minister Nitin Gadkari. “Patole had tried to save the perpetrators of Khairlanji massacre and his stand during the episode was utterly sectarian, which can’t be forgotten,” the letter has said.
Meanwhile, irrigation minister Mahajan and NCP MP Vijaysingh Mohite-Patil’s son Ranjitsingh has led to yet another wave of speculations. When asked whether Ranjitsingh is the next person to join the BJP in the state after Dr Sujay, Mahajan declined the possibility and added that meeting was to discuss the subsidy of the sugar mill.
Though Pawar had announced his decision to not contest Lok Sabha election, Vijaysingh has not been granted the seat as yet, leading to the speculation.