Sangli Lok Sabha Battle Turns Triangular as Congress Rebel Vishal Patil Takes on MVA, Mahayuti Candidates

(Left) Vishal Patil’s rebellion may eat into MVA’s votes in Sangli. (File image: X/PTI)

The Sangli Lok Sabha seat will see a triangular fight between the Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi alliances, as well as rebel Congress leader Vishal Patil, who will be contesting as an independent candidate. This seat had since the beginning of talks remained a bone of contention for allies Congress and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Sangli will vote on May 7, in the third round of the ongoing seven-phase elections, for which the last date to withdraw nomination forms was April 22. Some expected that Vishal Patil would take back his nomination form and help the MVA fight against BJP’s Sanjaykaka Patil from the Mahayuti. However, Vishal Patil decided that he would be in the fray as an independent contestant.

Sangli was for years seen as a bastion of the Congress, but BJP’s Sanjaykaka Patil wrested the seat in 2014 and retained it in 2019. So Uddhav Thackeray decided that his party Shiv Sena (UBT) would contest the seat this time from the MVA. While declaring a candidate, Thackeray purportedly did not inform other members of the alliance, which angered many local Congress leaders who approached the party high command for a solution. However, when on April 9, the day of ‘Gudi Padwa’, MVA allies announced their seat-sharing formula, Shiv Sena (UBT) kept the Sangli seat.

This development left Congress leaders from Sangli like Vishwajeet Kadam, Vishal Patil, and others miffed, said observers. Patil decided to file his nomination and wait for the party’s AB form to contest. But when he didn’t get the form from the party, he decided to fight the election as an independent candidate. Sources said local Congress leaders were asked by the top leadership to convince Vishal Patil, but their efforts failed. MVA insiders feel that Vishal Patil may split the votes and ultimately help BJP candidate Sanjaykaka Patil.

Sources within the Congress said that on April 25, the state leadership of the party will hold a meeting in Sangli. It’s the prerogative of the state chief of the Congress to take any action against a leader if he or she doesn’t follow the party line. So a decision on Vishal Patil’s rebellion may emerge at the event.

Patil told News18, “There was no official communication from the Congress party about withdrawing the form. I am not even contesting against any candidate of the Congress party. Also, I have the full support of the party’s local cadre. If someone feels that they have more for the party compared to me and my family, let them say it. About the meeting of the Maharashtra Congress on the 25th of April in Sangli, I have not received any invitation. I have got to know about this meeting through the media.”

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