Mumbai: A day after two senior Congress leaders joined BJP in West Bengal, the son of the Opposition leader in Maharashtra Assembly, Sujay Vikhe Patil has left the Congress party and joined BJP in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.
Sujay Vikhe Patil, a neurosurgeon, comes from a family of Congress leader. His father Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is one of the senior most leaders in Congress and current Opposition Leader in the Assembly. Incidentally, Sujay’s grandfather, Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, was also a veteran Congress leader in Maharashtra.
Sujay Patil is planning to contest from the Ahmednagar constituency, considered a stronghold of Congress. While welcoming him, Devendra Fadnavis said that he will propose Sujay’s MP candidature to the BJP’s Central Parliamentary Board.
This major political embarrassment to Congress comes after another setback in which the party failed to stitch an alliance with Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA). Yesterday, Congress lost an AICC committee member to the BJP in West Bengal. Recent surveys show that Narendra Modi is riding a wave of popularity across the country.