Congress reaches out to its ex-leaders in Vidarbha

Nagpur: The Congress has started reaching out to its many leaders in the Vidarbha region who had ditched the party in favour of the Bharartiya Janata Party (BJP) before 2014. One such leader, Nana Patole, recently even left the BJP.

Before the unrest in rural Vidarbha politically damages BJP in the next polls, Congress leaders who had defected to the BJP are now trying to distance themselves from the BJP, revealed a former minister and senior BJP leader. BJP MLA, Ashish Deshmukh, too, has slammed the state government and there are indications that more such will follow in the next six months.

Mr Patole is set to return to the Congress fold by January next year. A sulking Mr Deshmukh’s letter to chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has become a cause of embarrassment for the BJP ahead of the winter session of the legislative assembly. Mr Deshmukh has put up posters on all major roads outside Nagpur which have no sign of the BJP but appeal for a sukhi (content) Vidarbha. The posters are being perceived as background being prepared by Mr Deshmukh to leave the BJP. There is buzz in Nagpur that Mr Deshmukh too will be joining the Congress in the next few months.

There is buzz that nearly five to six such leaders who had defected from the Congress to the BJP before 2014, are now trying to keep distance from the BJP. A senior MLA from the Congress claimed, “If Mr Patole gets a good response for his yatra in Vidarbha, there will be many more to follow him.”

Political observers believe that unrest over the agrarian crisis is the main reason for disturbance among BJP MLAs in Vidarbha. Senior journalist Chandrakant Wankhede said, “Less MSP, mess in the loan waiver scheme and no relief to farmers are the main reason for unrest on ground. It is possible that these leaders might feel disturbed with the BJP.”