Widow of veteran Congress leader from hingoli joins BJP

MLC Pradnya Satav’s defection comes just a year after the party nominated her to the upper house, and she has over four and a half years of her tenure remaining

MUMBAI: In what is perceived as a blow to the Congress in Marathwada, Pradnya Satav, the widow of senior Congress leader Rajeev Satav and legislative council member, is all set to quit the party and join the BJP on Thursday. Pradnya’s defection comes just a year after the party nominated her to the upper house, and she has over four and a half years of her tenure remaining.

MLC Pradnya Satav, the widow of senior Congress leader Rajeev Satav. (X)

Her move also comes as a surprise to the BJP’s ally Shiv Sena, as she is seen as the potential BJP candidate in the next assembly polls opposite the Sena’s controversial Kalamnuri MLA Sanjay Bangar, who has been at war with the BJP leadership in the district. The Mahayuti parties, after the intra-alliance poaching reached new heights recently, had agreed not to disturb sitting MLAs. However, the BJP plans to go solo in 2029.

After Rajeev Satav passed away from Covid-19 in May 2021, Pradnya, who is an MBBS degree-holder, was sent to the legislative council for three years by the Congress in the biennial election in November 2021. She was sent again to the upper house in July 2024 by the party for the full six-year term by electing her from its MLAs. Her defection is a rude shock for the party in Hingoli and Marathwada. She comes from the Other Backward Classes (OBC) and is seen as the potential candidate for the BJP from Kalamnuri in Hingoli district.

“She is likely to join the BJP in the presence of Maharashtra BJP chief Ravindra Chavan on Thursday in Mumbai,” said a BJP leader requesting anonymity. “She is believed to have been promised re-election to the upper house on the seat vacated by her by resigning from Congress. Since the seat is elected from among MLAs, the BJP should not have any problem sending her to the council. Inducting her into the fold is part of BJP’s strategy to cultivate an alternative leadership in the constituencies represented by Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena.”

Although state-level Congress leaders have been claiming that Pradnya has no mass support among the constituency’s voters, her supporters say she has political clout in Hingoli. “The district was represented by her late mother-in-law Rajani Satav, who was in active politics and a public health minister in the Congress state government decades ago,” said a local Congress politician. “Rajeev, an MP from Hingoli, was very close to Rahul Gandhi. Pradnya has been handling the constituency after Rajeev, and has been active through the educational institutions they control. It would not be difficult for her to win the assembly polls.”

After beginning as a Panchayat Samiti member, Rajeev played various political roles—he was an MLA, an MP, and helmed both the Maharashtra and National Youth Congress.

Congress leaders, meanwhile, have dismissed the reports. “I don’t think she will quit the party,” said Satej Patil, the Congress’s group leader in the council. “We have been in touch during the winter session, which ended on Sunday. The reports are baseless.”