E-Paper
Thopte to join BJP on April 22
Addressing a rally in Bhor, he said it was the wish of his supporters, who feel that aligning with the ruling party is the only option to usher in growth in the constituency
Sangram Thopte, Congress leader and former MLA from Bhor constituency in Pune district, said on Sunday that he would join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to ensure development in his area.
Addressing a rally in Bhor, he said it was the wish of his supporters, who feel that aligning with the ruling party is the only option to usher in growth in the constituency. He tendered his resignation to the state Congress chief Harshvardhan Sapkal on Saturday.
Thopte said that he will join the BJP in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis in Mumbai on April 22.
“People in Bhor support my decision. Everyone is asking me to join the BJP to ensure development,” said the three-term MLA who lost the 2024 assembly polls.
“I have been upset since 2019 as I wasn’t allowed to rise within the party. I requested several leaders to conduct a rally to support me during the last year’s assembly elections, but nobody came. After I lost the polls, no Congress leader bothered to even call me once,” he said.
Thopte, who had represented the Bhor constituency in 2009, 2024 and 2019, was defeated by Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party candidate Shankar Mandekar in the 2024 assembly polls.
Thopte is the son of party veteran Anantrao Thopte, who had represented Bhor six times.
Sapkal on Saturday had claimed that the Congress wanted to field Thopte for the assembly speaker’s position after Nana Patole resigned when the MVA was in power. But Fadnavis, the then Opposition leader, scuttled their efforts by pressuring the then governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
