Mumbai: Contrary to reports that Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil will join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, at Ahmednagar, the senior Congress leader stayed away from the rally on Friday.
Mr Vikhe-Patil’s son Sujay is contesting the Lok Sabha polls on a BJP ticket. Speculation was rife that Mr Vikhe-Patil would follow his son into the BJP and share the stage with Mr Modi at the Ahmednagar rally. Reports of him joining the BJP were further strengthened as he reportedly attended a meeting to review preparations for Mr Modi’s rally at Ahmednagar on Thursday.
The meeting was summoned and chaired by his son Sujay. Mr Vikhe-Patil, who is currently the Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly, was expected to join the BJP in the presence of Mr Modi at the rally.
Mr Vikhe-Patil had already made it clear that he would not campaign for the NCP nominee in Ahmednagar.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) claimed that Mr Vikhe-Patil was campaigning for the BJP in Ahmednagar, and asked the Congress to take action against him.
However, Mr Vikhe-Patil was conspicuous by his absence as he chose to stay away from the Ahmednagar rally. While he was unavailable for comment, his close aides rejected suggestions about the Congress leader switching sides and joining the BJP.
They also maintained that Mr Vikhe-Patil had played no role in organising the rally and asserted that Sujay was capable of handling his own election-related issues.
“Sujay may be contesting elections for the first time. But, he is not new to politics. For the last seven to eight years, he was managing his father's Assembly constituency Shirdi,” said a close aide of Mr Vikhe-Patil.
“Sujay's contribution in making the Congress the single largest party in the Ahmednagar zilla parishad cannot be overlooked. He doesn't require his father to manage his Lok Sabha elections. It is not true that Mr Vikhe-Patil was instrumental in organising Mr Modi's rally Friday,” he said.
