Setback for Congress in Pune: Ex-MLA and 'hardcore Congressman' Sangram Thopte joins BJP

In a fresh jolt to the Congress in Maharashtra, former MLA Sangram Thopte on Tuesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), ending his decades-long association with the grand old party. Thopte, along with a large group of supporters from Bhor taluka in Pune district, was inducted into the BJP in the presence of Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule and the party’s working president Ravindra Chavan.

Thopte, a three-time MLA from Bhor, resigned from Congress last week after growing disillusioned with the party’s leadership. His defection is being seen as a significant gain for the BJP, which has struggled to make inroads in Bhor — a seat held firmly by the Thopte family for decades.

“I was a hardcore Congressman. I worked for the party and the Maha Vikas Aghadi. But my work and loyalty weren’t recognised. My father and I struggled for the party to ensure the Congress ideology reaches the grassroots,” Thopte said during the induction.

Thopte's father, the late Anantrao Thopte, was a six-time Congress MLA from Bhor and a prominent rival of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar. The family's deep-rooted Congress legacy had kept the BJP at bay in the constituency for over a decade, even through the height of the Modi wave.

"I have known Fadnavis for several years, but I have never used that connection for politics," Thopte said, adding that he decided to switch because the BJP is “the largest party in the country and works under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.”

The BJP views Thopte's entry as a strategic move to expand its influence in the rural strongholds of Pune district, where the Congress and NCP continue to command support. "Thopte joining the BJP will boost the party prospects in the rural parts of Pune district, where the influence of the NCP and the Congress is still quite strong," a BJP leader said.

Thopte lost the 2024 assembly elections to NCP's Shankar Mandekar, but his presence continues to hold sway among the rural electorate. His exit is expected to dent the Congress' already shrinking base in the region and potentially reshape the political equations in the run-up to the state polls.

(With inputs from PTI)