Mumbai: It is time for birds of passage to migrate. On a day of swift political developments, Maharashtra Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil’s son Sujay jumped onto the BJP bandwagon. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP had refused to relinquish its claim on the Ahmedanagar Lok Sabha seat to accommodate him. The BJP is expected to do the needful now. Hours after son Sujay joined the BJP, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patel, too, got an offer — from the Shiv Sena — to join the saffron forces. As Sanjay Raut extended the invite, he reminded the latter that he and his father were once ministers in the Uddhav Thackeray-led government.
(For the record, Shirdi MLA Vikhe-Patil, also Leader of Oppositio0n in the Maharashtra Assembly, is the son of veteran politician and former Union Minister of State for Finance Balasaheb Vikhe Patil.) “It will be good if the third generation of the family is a part of the BJP-Sena alliance,’’ Raut said, with a touch of nostalgia. Sena is keeping its doors open and had no hesitation in also welcoming Sharad Sonawane, sitting legislator of MNS from Junnar, into the party. Sharad joining the Sena will reinforce its footprint in Shirur constituency – Junnar is a segment — which is represented by Sena’s Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil in Parliament.
NCP, not the one to be left behind, followed suit by welcoming Marathi actor and former Sena leader Dr Amol Kolhe, who will be the party’s candidate in Shirur. Kolhe played the role of Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Sambhaji in a TV serial. There was reverse migration, too, from the BJP to the Congress. Sanjay Kakade, a BJP Rajya Sabha member, is expected to join the Congress in the next few days. Congress feels Kakade’s candidacy against BJP’s sitting MP Anil Shirole would help them win the Brahmin dominated Pune seat.
Checking out the possibility of securing a ticket from the BJP, Ranjeet Mohite-Patil, son of NCP’s sitting MP, Vijay Sinh Mohite-Patil, met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. However, BJP sources claim Ranjeet would not be entertained. “Only BJP loyalists can win from Madha, so we do not wish to entertain the Mohite-Patil family,” BJP spokesperson Prakash Bhandari claimed.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Maharashtra Finance minister Sudhir Mungantiwar has said several Congress and NCP leaders were eager to join the BJP. “Except Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan, almost every important leader of the Congress is willing to join the BJP,” Mungantiwar claimed. A Congress, however, is adamant: “Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil will not resign from the Congress.’’