More Congress, NCP leaders’ sons rumoured to join BJP

Mumbai: As chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had indicated, some more offspring of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders are on their way to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) after Sujay Vikhe-Patil and Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil.

According to sources, the names of Amit Deshmukh, son of former chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh; Vishwajeet Kadam, son of the former Congress minister late Patangrao Kadam and Vaibhav Pichad, son of former NCP minister Madhukar Pichad have been doing rounds about joining the BJP in near future.

Amit is sitting Congress legislator from Latur, whereas Vaibhav represents the Akole Vidhan Sabha constituency. Vishwajeet is currently an MLA from Palus-Kadegaon seat.

Mr Fadnavis on Tuesday had indicated that more people from Congress and the NCP are likely to join the BJP in the coming days. “Aage aage dekhiye hota hai kya,” (You will soon come to know what happens next), he had said.

Senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil too had claimed that several leaders, who are relatives of Congress and NCP leaders, were waiting to join the BJP.

According to sources, former Congress MP Pratik Patil, grandson of late chief minister Vasantdada Patil, is also expected to switch his loyalties to the BJP.  

Pratik Patil recently had met a BJP minister triggering the speculation. However, sources from the Vasantdada-Patil group denied the possibility of Pratik joining the BJP saying the family is a staunch supporter of Congress and would not quit the party.

Pratik Patil said, “The house of Vasantdada Patil will never desert the Congress. I have good relations with members of all political parties. My meeting with the minister was not political in nature.”

While Deshmukh, Pich-ad and Kadam were not available for comment, an official from the Pradesh Congress Committee denied reports about Deshmukh and Kadam.

Ahead of Lok Sabha polls, Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil, former state president of NCP’s youth wing and the son of NCP MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, and Sujay Vikhe-Patil, son of the leader of opposition in assembly and congressman Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, have already joined the BJP.