The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) suffered a setback on Saturday as its leader and former central minister Suryakanta Patil resigned from the party. Patil joined the BJP in 2014 after she parted ways with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
In the recent Lok Sabha elections, she sought the party's nomination from the Hingoli constituency in Marathwada but failed to get the ticket. Patil had expressed her displeasure over the denial of the ticket.
As per the seat sharing, the Hingoli seat went to Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena. During the elections, however, the BJP had given her the responsibility of poll chief of the Hadgaon Himayatnagar assembly constituency. The Shinde Sena lost the Hingoli seat to the Uddhav Thackeray's Sena.
Suryakanta Patil has represented the Hingoli-Nanded constituency four times as MP and once as MLA. She was the minister of state for rural development and parliamentary affairs during the UPA government.
Reports suggest that Patil wants to rejoin Sharad Pawar's NCP, which emerged as the best-performing party in Maharashtra. The Sharad Pawar-led faction bagged 8 of 10 seats it contested, while Ajit Pawar's NCP could win just 1 of 4 seats. There are also speculations that many NCP MLAs are now in touch with Sharad Pawar's party and may switch over ahead of the assembly polls, slated to take place in October-November.
Earlier this week, India Today reported that NCP's Chhagan Bhujbal was upset with the leadership of the party after the Lok Sabha debacle and the nomination of Sunetra Pawar for Rajya Sabha. Bhujbal, an OBC face in state politics, was eyeing a Rajya Sabha berth and eventually a ministry in the central government, India Today reported citing sources.
Bhujbal is reportedly looking at different options after his supporters mounted pressure. He, however, refuted any claims of him being unhappy in the NCP.
NCP-SP leader Rohit Pawar recently claimed that 18-19 NCP MLAs were in touch with his party and might change sides after the Monsoon session in the Assembly.