Defecting dynasts fail to hit sweet spot for BJP in western Maharashtra

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategy of engineering defections failed to deliver results in Western Maharashtra

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) strategy of engineering defections, or as chief minister Devendra Fadnavis put it during the campaign, “... waiting for you a long time,” failed to deliver results in Western Maharashtra, a.k.a the sugar belt.

Home Minister Amit Shah gives party membership slip to senior NCP leader Udayanraje Bhosale, after the latter joined BJP on September 14. Udayanraje lost in Satara (Lok Sabha bypoll) (HT/PHOTO)

Six districts in Western Maharashtra include Pune, Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur, Solapur and Ahmednagar, all traditionally dominated by the Congress and now, the NCP.

BJP “pulled” Vijaysinh Mohite Patil (Congress) from Solapur, Udayanraje Bhosale (NCP) from Satara, Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil (Congress) in Ahmednagar, Gopichand Padalkar (VBA) from Sangli and Harshvardhan Patil (Congress) from Pune district.

Udayanraje lost in Satara (Lok Sabha bypoll) and Patil got defeated in Indapur. Though Mohite Patil was not contesting himself, he was not able to ensure victory for any of the BJP candidates in this region.

Vikhe Patil also failed to increase the BJP’s base in Ahmednagar district.

BJP state unit president Chandrakant Patil is from Kolhapur district, but the BJP did not win a single seat in Patil’s home district.

Congress-NCP leaders who joined the Shiv Sena

Dilip Sopal - defeated in Solapur

Shekhar Gore - defeated in Man Khatav

Rashmi Bagal - defeated in Solapur

Sanjay Kokate - defeated Madha

Dilip Mane (Congress) - defeated in Solapur central

Congress-NCP leaders who joined BJP

Vibhav Pichad - defeated in Akole

Harshvardhan Patil (Congress) - defeated in Indapur

Udyanraje Bhosale (NCP) - defeated in Satara

* Gopichand Padalkar (VBA) - defeated in Baramati