Son of senior Opposition leader, Sujay Vikhe Patil joins BJP; family known for turning sides, but scion's move could dent Cong-NCP alliance

The son of the Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly and senior Congress leader, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil — Sujay Vikhe Patil — joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday in the presence of Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Sujay (37), a practicing neurosurgeon, said: “I have taken a conscious decision to join the BJP after the Congress-NCP combine sidelined me. I have been working painstakingly for Ahmednagar for three years. The NCP’s decision not to concede one seat to the Congress has hurt me. Joining BJP is my personal choice. I have taken this decision against the wishes of my father. I do not know what my mother and father think about this decision. But I consider this as a huge responsibility and promise to work tirelessly to ensure both the seats (other being Shirdi) in my district come to BJP." Sujay was all praise for Fadnavis and BJP chief Amit Shah, as he thanked the chief minister for giving him the opportunity to serve BJP. After joining the party, Sujay lauded Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Shah for their leadership. He said that the youth and women support his decision to join the BJP, adding that the decision to leave Congress had been difficult as his family has been associated with the party for a long time. [caption id=“attachment_6248601” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Sujay Vikhe Patil joined the BJP on Tuesday. ANI[/caption] “I am impressed with prime minister Modi’s leadership. We can count on BJP,” Sujay said while addressing reporters after joining the saffron party. He said, “I’ll try my best to make my family proud by working under the guidance of BJP. The chief minister and other BJP MLAs were supportive, and helped me take this decision. I subscribe to BJP’s developmental and nationalist agenda… I admire Prime Minister Narendra Modi because of the reforms he has introduced and his policies for social welfare, which are identical to the politics of the three generations of Vikhe Patils.” “Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis stood behind me like a father figure, in my bad days. I am happy to join BJP,” Sujay said. Interestingly, hours after Sujay joined the BJP, his father Radhakrishna Vikhe Patel also got an offer from the Shiv Sena, which is an ally of the BJP. An MLA from Shirdi, Radhakrishna is the son of veteran politician and former Minister of State for Finance Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Anticipating one more turnaround in the family, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday: “Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil should join the Shiv Sena and make our alliance (with the BJP) stronger. Both he and his father were ministers in the Sena government. It is good if the third generation of the family is also a part of the alliance.” Apparently, Sujay’s decision to join the BJP was linked with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar refusing to relinquish his party’s claim on the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat, to make way for the former. However, NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said his party isn’t surprised at Sujay joining the BJP. “Rajmata Vijaya Raje Scindia was in the BJP while (her son) Madhavrao Scindia was in the Congress. Vasundhara Raje (her daughter) was (a BJP) chief minister of Rajasthan while Jyotiraditya Scindia (Madhavrao’s son) is a Congress leader. If Vikhe Patil’s son joins the BJP, it should not be looked at differently,” he said. Malik further said that as far as the contest in Ahmednagar was concerned, the party would fight with full strength against Sujay. Meanwhile, a Congress source told PTI: “Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil will not resign from the Congress. He will work hard in the upcoming elections for the party.” Ahmednagar, about 120 km from Pune, is considered to be the stronghold of the Vikhe Patil family and Sujay chose to contest from it, notwithstanding protests from supporters of BJP’s sitting MP, Dilip Gandhi. Fadnavis who announced that Sujay’s name was being recommended to the Central Parliamentary Board as a candidate from the Ahmednagar South Lok Sabha seat, said: “When Sujay decided to join the BJP, he did not lay down any condition. We in the BJP believe in his capacity and would recommend his name to BJP’s central parliamentary committee." Fadnavis said that even though Sujay had to rebel against his family to take the decision, his decision will prove right in due course of time. “Youngsters of this country know that development and country’s security can be taken care of Narendra Modi_ji_. Sujay is a representative of that youth. His entry in our party will make us stronger in Ahmednagar,” Fadnavis said adding that he was happy “a young and educated leader was joining the BJP.” He also stated that he was “confident” that Sujay’s name will be “approved” for the parliamentary board. “I am confident that Sujay will win the seat with record votes,” said Fadnavis. Meanwhile, Pawar expressed dismay at the development and said that he can’t “fulfil demands of children from other families”. “I can look after my house. How can I fulfil the demands of children from other families? If anyone is changing the route and think that the journey will be smooth, then I have nothing but well wishes,” Pawar told reporters on Tuesday evening. Earlier, on Monday when Pawar had announced his decision to not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, he had also clarified that there was no question of NCP giving the Ahmednagar seat to Congress. He even recounted the old days of his rivalry with Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Seat-sharing talks between the Congress and the NCP were disrupted several times in the past over the Ahmednagar seat as Sujay was keen to contest from there. As per the seat sharing formula, the seat is with the NCP and it was unwilling to part with it. The Hindu reported that Sujay was even offered to contest the polls from an NCP ticket. However, he chose to hold a meeting with BJP’s Girish Mahajan which led to speculations of him joining the ruling party. In fact, according to The Hindu’s report, in a last-ditch effort to pursue the Congress leadership to pressurise the NCP and in a bid to stop his son joining the BJP, Radhakrishna on Monday night had held meetings with Congress president Rahul Gandhi and then with UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi as well. But nothing materialised. In February, Maharashtra Congress chief Ashok Chavan had said that Radhakrishna should convince his son. “Sujay should know that his request is under the Congress party’s consideration. I have also suggested to his father that he should convince his son (to back down if necessary),” he was quoted as saying by PTI. However, on Tuesday Sujay said: “I didn’t want to see my father begging for my candidature. I am an independent professional. I have the freedom to decide my life and career… My supporters put pressure on me to take such a decision.” Meanwhile, according to reports, Radhakrishna could probably resign from his post soon. Members of the Vikhe Patil family have been turncoats. The late Balasaheb Vikhe Patil had won the Lok Sabha elections in 1998 on Shiv Sena’s ticket and even became Minister of State for Finance and later Union Minister for Heavy Industries in the NDA government, before returning to Congress in 2004. Radhakrishna too was a minister in the Shiv Sena government and in the BJP from 1995 to 1999. Thereafter, he was the Minister of Educational and Transportation in the government of Ashok Chavan and re-elected as the minister of Agriculture and Marketing in the Prithviraj Chavan government. Maharashtra will vote in four phases in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on 11, 18, 23 and 29 April. With inputs from PTI