Shruti Suman
New Delhi : The Congress secured 99 seats in the election. “With Vishal Patil’s support, the Congress’s strength will rise to 100 in Lok Sabha,” stated Congress MLA Vishwajit Kadam, who had advocated for Patil within the party.
Vishal Patil, the grandson of former Maharashtra Chief Minister Vasantdada Patil, won the Lok Sabha seat from Sangli, defeating the BJP’s Sanjaykaka Patil. He had rebelled and contested as an independent after the Sangli parliamentary seat was allocated to the Shiv Sena-UBT in the seat-sharing arrangement among the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Congress Chief Mallikarjun Kharge welcomed Vishal Patil’s support, saying, “Welcoming the support of elected MP from Sangli, Shri Vishal Patil (@patilvishalvp) to the Congress party.”
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena faction’s decision to announce its own candidate before a seat-sharing agreement had caused some tension within the Maharashtra opposition alliance. The Congress had repeatedly urged the Sena to reconsider its decision.
On the previous day, Vishal Patil and Vishwajit Kadam met with Kharge and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, where the independent MP handed over his letter of support to the party.
If the Lok Sabha secretariat approves, Vishal Patil can be recognized as an associate MP of the Congress, which will bring the party’s strength in the Lok Sabha to 100, according to party leaders.
Additionally, Pappu Yadav, another independent candidate who won from Bihar’s Purnea, is expected to support the Congress. He had merged his own party with the Congress before the elections. When the Purnea seat was allocated to the RJD in the Bihar opposition seat-sharing pact, Pappu Yadav contested as an independent candidate.
