Reverse defection of sorts begins in Maharashtra

Given this backdrop, the reverse defection trend is significant, since the BJP is ruling at the Centre and in the state, and also does not forgive its detractors. “The party leadership does not tolerate defection and takes pride in terming itself a disciplined party,” said a former BJP leader

MUMBAI: Before the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha and assembly polls, Maharashtra politics witnessed a mass exodus from opposition parties. Many of the political families in the state joined the BJP, a trend that continued till recently with the induction of former chief minister Ashok Chavan and other Congress leaders like former Gadchiroli MLA Namdeo Usendi. However, in the last few weeks, the state has also been witnessing reverse defection, especially from the BJP, although much less compared to the flow towards the party.

Mumbai, India - April 3, 2024: BJP's sitting MP Unmesh Patil from Jalgaon and Karan Pawar joined Shiv Sena UBT on Wednesday at Matoshree in Mumbai, India, on Wednesday, April 3, 2024. (Photo by Satish Bate/ Hindustan Times) (Hindustan Times)

Soon after the BJP refused to renominate its Jalgaon MP Unmesh Patil, he quit and joined the Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray: a blow to the state BJP which has not witnessed any such defection in the last ten years. Like in Jalgaon, the Mohite-Patil family, which has clout in Solapur, has raised the banner of revolt over the candidature of sitting BJP MP Ranjitsingh Nimbalkar in the Madha constituency. Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil, the party’s Solapur district general secretary, is likely to join the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) and could be announced as the candidate against Nimbalkar. His uncle and head of the family, Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, is reportedly supporting him in the revolt though his cousin and BJP MLC Ranjitsinh has avoided appearing openly on the scene.

Apart from Ranjitsinh’s and Dhairyasheel’s families, other Congress and NCP political families like the Vikhe-Patils in Ahmednagar, the Pichads in Ahmednagar and the Gavits in Nandurbar joined the BJP in 2014 and 2019. Some of these families reportedly joined to safeguard their fiefdoms in the cooperative sector and avoid action by the central agencies.

Given this backdrop, the reverse defection trend is significant, since the BJP is ruling at the Centre and in the state, and also does not forgive its detractors. “The party leadership does not tolerate defection and takes pride in terming itself a disciplined party,” said a former BJP leader. “The party leadership does not tolerate dissident voices. The ones who defy party orders face the music, and Eknath Khadse is a prime example of this.”

The party has witnessed dissident voices in other parts of the state as well. Disgruntled office-bearers like Ramdas Patil Sumthankar in Hingoli, former MLA Vijayraj Shinde in Buldhana, Narayan Gavhankar in Akola and Shivaji Jadhav, the BJP’s former district president of Hingoli, all filed nominations as independents against either the party or alliance candidate in their respective constituencies. While Sumthankar, Shinde and Gavhankar were persuaded by the leadership to withdraw, Jadhav has stayed put.

In Amravati, a delegation of district-level leaders under former state minister Pravin Pote-Patil met Devendra Fadnavis in the last week of March to oppose the candidature of Navneet Rana. Her name was announced by the party the very next day.

Sachin Sawant, Maharashtra Congress general secretary opined that the influx of outsiders into the BJP had led to dissent and unease within the party. “There is unrest among hardcore BJP leaders but they cannot voice it,” he said. “Forget small-time leaders, even union ministers are not allowed to speak up. The fear factor is so intense in the party that nobody speaks against the leadership. If the BJP loses power, the influx will turn into an exodus.”

Mumbai-based political analyst Hemant Desai said that the leaders quitting the BJP were doing so because of their own political impasse. “First of all, the reverse defection is not big in the BJP like defection in other parties,” he said. “The revolt by Unmesh Patil and Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil is a big move but both defected for their own survival. Patil must have seen no future after he was denied a renomination, while for the Mohite-Patils it was a question of retaining their family clout.”

BJP spokesperson Vishwas Pathak claimed that while such things were part of politics, many of those who had gone to other parties were now trying to come back to the BJP. “Some went away because they cannot cope with our discipline,” he said. “Leaders like Nana Patole have been experiencing a downfall in their own parties.”

When put to Pathak that the BJP was misusing central agencies to break parties and bring their leaders to the BJP, he denied it. “The agencies are doing their jobs legally, efficiently and fearlessly,” he claimed.