Mumbai: The internecine rivalry in the Nationalist Congress Party, between the Pawar and the Mohite-Patil clans, over the Madha Lok Sabha constituency, reached a flashpoint on Tuesday.
Result: Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, son of Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, who is a Member of Parliament of the NCP, is all set to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Ranjitsinh was until now the first state president of the youth wing of the NCP and a former Member of the Rajya Sabha.
Ranjitsinh had made his intentions clear in a Facebook post, in which he expressed anguish over failing to secure candidature from Madha and sought guidance from his supporters to decide on a future course of action.
“While Parth Pawar, son of NCP leader Ajit Pawar and party MP Udayanraje Bhosale have promptly been given tickets for the Maval and Satara Lok Sabha constituencies, respectively, why have the Mohite-Patils been sidelined?” asked a Ranjitsinh supporter.
On March 11, after Pawar withdrew from the poll fray by announcing he would not contest from Madha, it was expected that the ticket would either be given to Vijaysinh or his son. However, no candidate for Madha has been declared in the two lists announced by the NCP.
This aroused the suspicion of the Mohite-Patils and their supporters that they were being marginalised. According to Mohite-Patil’s supporters, Ajit Pawar has always viewed Ranjitsinh as a potential threat and has left no stone overturned to drive him out of the political arena. As a result, Ranjitsinh has been sidelined by the NCP leaders for nearly a decade.
Ranjitsinh had met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and BJP leader Girish Mahajan in Mumbai late on Monday. He had held negotiations with Mahajan earlier as well, on the day Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil, the son of the leader of the opposition and Congressman Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, had joined the BJP. Mohite Patil senior said he was “in agreement” with his son’s decision.
It is not known immediately whether Vijaysinh will also join the BJP, as is being speculated. A big jamboree is planned at Wankhede statdium on Wednesday, where Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president (Raosaheb Danve) and other leaders will formally induct Ranjitsinh into the BJP.
