On June 17, when Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, who was sworn in a day earlier as minister for housing, came to the assembly, opposition members shouted “Aayaram Gayaram, Jai Shri Ram”. They were referring to his entry into the cabinet, less than two weeks after his resignation from the Congress.
Vikhe Patil, a seasoned player with more than three decades of political experience, did not pay much attention to the sloganeering. That Vikhe Patil would dump the Congress was clear right from the day his son, Sujay, chose to contest the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket. Vikhe Patil had tried to get him the Congress ticket from Ahmednagar constituency, which was with the Nationalist Congress Party. He had even urged the party’s central leadership to get the NCP to exchange it for another seat. The Pawars, however, refused to budge, although Vikhe Patil had requested Sharad Pawar to end the political rivalry between the two families and make a fresh start.
The BJP, which spotted an opportunity, deputed Irrigation Minister Girish Mahajan, a close confidant of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, to approach Sujay. After Sujay got the BJP ticket, Vikhe Patil, who was leader of opposition in the legislative assembly, announced that he would not campaign for the NCP candidate from Ahmednagar. Since then, it was a only matter of time that he quit the Congress and joined the Fadnavis cabinet.
Vikhe Patil’s departure is a big blow to the Congress, which is yet to recover from the crushing defeat in the Lok Sabha elections. The party organisation is a shambles and workers are demoralised. To make things worse, at least five or six more Congress legislators like Abdul Sattar, Jaykumar Gore and Kalidas Kolambkar are keen to emulate Vikhe Patil and cross over to the BJP.
The Vikhe Patils have dominated Maharashtra’s socio-political space for more than five decades. The family first came into prominence when Vithalrao Vikhe Patil started Asia’s first cooperative sugar factory at Loni in Ahmednagar district. Vithalrao laid the foundation of the family’s cooperative empire. Today, it comprises prominent educational institutions, sugar factories and dairy and farmers’ clubs.
Members of the Vikhe Patil clan have never shied away from switching parties. Vithalrao’s son Balasaheb was the first rebel in the family. In his younger days, Balasaheb was a communist. He then joined the Congress and became a zilla parishad member and legislator. When Indira Gandhi imposed Emergency, he quit the Congress and joined the Maharashtra Samajwadi Congress. He returned to the Congress following Indira’s massive victory in the 1980 elections. He later set up the Congress Forum for Action with the support of 45 MPs when Rajiv Gandhi was Congress president. After his defeat in the 1991 Lok Sabha elections, he accused Sharad Pawar of sabotaging his election. Thus began the rivalry between the Vikhe Patils and the Pawars.
Vithalrao, who stayed away from active politics, was always close to the Congress ideology. Said political analyst Abhay Deshpande, “It was Balasaheb who first rebelled to quit the Congress. As he grew old, his son Radhakrishna rebelled and joined the Shiv Sena and became minister for agriculture in the first Sena-BJP government (1995-99). Balasaheb followed in the footsteps of his son and joined the Sena. He won the 1999 Lok Sabha elections from the Kopargaon constituency and became minister of state for finance in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government. Now it is Sujay’s turn to lead the rebellion and his father has followed him.”
Interestingly, even as Balasaheb was with the Sena, Radhakrishna had returned to the Congress when it came to power in 1999 in Maharashtra. He subsequently became a minister and held important portfolios. Balasaheb returned to the Congress in 2004 and was elected from the Kopargaon. He died in 2016.
The party-hopping ways of the Vikhe Patils have always been questioned by their critics. Former minister Balasaheb Thorat, who is the new Congress legislature party leader in Maharashtra, had warned the party’s central leadership not to rely on the Vikhe Patils. Their critics say the Vikhe Patils are power hungry, always chasing positions of influence to keep their Ahmednagar fiefdom intact. “Their cooperative empire is worth around a few thousand crores,” said a source, who has known the Vikhe Patils for a long time.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said Radhakrishna’s exit was expected. “He was unhappy after the NCP refused to leave the Ahmednagar seat for his son. He did not campaign in Ahmednagar and Shirdi constituencies and his network made sure that his son won from Ahmednagar and Sadashiv Lokhande (Shiv Sena) won from Shirdi. As leader of opposition, his performance was not that great. He had shared dais with the chief minister, claiming that the CM was his personal friend. So we had sensed that this was coming,” said Sawant.
Deshpande said the BJP was trying to take away from the Congress its most important leaders who had the ability to revive the party. “The BJP snatched away Narayan Rane, a powerful leader with a mass base and the ability to revive the party. They are doing the same with Vikhe Patil,” he said.
Water Supply Minister Babanrao Lonikar said Vikhe Patil’s entry into the cabinet had completely crushed the morale of the Congress. “Vikhe Patil is a powerful name. He is a Maratha, an eminent sugar baron with huge clout. It will certainly benefit the BJP not just in Ahmednagar district, but also in the neighbouring Marathwada and north Maharashtra. It is like we have snatched a Congress senapati,” said Lonikar.
A BJP legislator, however, chose to disagree. “It is fine with Vikhe Patil. His entry has a huge demoralising effect on the Congress. But we are worried about other Congress-NCP legislators who are keen to join,” he said. “The BJP will get only 144 seats to contest in the assembly elections after the seat-sharing pact with the Sena. We already have 123 legislators of our own, and seven independents. If we welcome leaders from other parties, when will our loyal cadre get a chance to contest elections?”