After weeks of intense speculation, Dr Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of the leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, finally joined the ruling BJP on Tuesday, thus causing considerable embarrassment to the Congress in general and Sr Vikhe-Patil in particular.
Sujay, whose entry to the BJP had become a mere formality, joined the principal ruling party in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state party president Raosaheb Danve-Patil.
A neurosurgeon by profession, Sujay is the grandson of late Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, who was a Minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee Government.
The BJP has decided to field Sujay as its candidate from Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency in place of its two-time MP Dilip Kumar Gandhi. Gandhi’s supporters have already registered a protest in front of the State BJP headquarters on Monday against Sujay’s entry to the BJP. It remains to be seen as to how Gandhi will react to the denial of party ticket to him.
Sujay’s decision to join the BJP stems from his inability to contest the Lok Sabha polls the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket.
In the seat-sharing arrangement between the Congress and NCP, Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat falls in the quota of the Sharad Pawar-led party. However, Pawar was in no mood to lose the politically influential Ahmednagar seat to the Congress.
As a political strategy of sorts, Sharad Pawar had offered the Ahmednagar seat to Sujay on the condition that he should contest the seat on NCP ticket. Incidentally, Pawar and Sujay’s grandfather Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil were bitter political enemies.
Notwithstanding his brewing desire to quit the Congress, the BJP had been trying to woo Sujay for the past two months into its fold. It had entrusted State BJP leader and minister Girish Mahajan with the task of holding talks with Sujay and luring him to switch sides by offering him party ticket to contest the Lok Sabha polls.
Apart from the fact that he comes from the Vikhe-Patil family and he is the son of leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Sujay does not bring anything extraordinary to the table in terms of political influence and connect with the people in Ahmednagar. If anything, the BJP is using Sujay as a trophy — of being the son of the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly — to score brownie points over the Congress.
Talking to mediapersons after his entry to the BJP, Sujay said he would be happy under the leaderships of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP national president Amit Shah, Fadnavis and Danve-Patil.
Describing the decision to join the BJP was a “personal one” taken as an individual, Sujay said: “It is my personal decision (to join the BJP). I have taken the decision in my individual capacity.....My father is unhappy with my decision. But I will try and make my family proud”.