Congress MLC Pradnya Satav joins BJP; Patole claims money, posts being used to break parties

Mumbai, Dec 18 (PTI) Congress Member of Legislative Council (MLC) Pradnya Satav joined the BJP here on Thursday, hours after submitting her resignation from the Upper House of the Maharashtra legislature.

The Congress accused the BJP of not respecting democracy and breaking parties with money and posts.

The MLC joined the BJP in the presence of the ruling party’s Maharashtra chief Ravindra Chavan and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Satav, the wife of late Rajiv Satav, a Congressman and close confidant of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi, hails from Hingoli district in the state’s Marathwada region. She was first elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council in 2021.

Her switch in the midst of local body elections is being seen as a setback to the Congress.

After her husband’s death, Satav served as vice president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee. She was renominated to the legislative council in July last year, and her term was to end in 2030.

Earlier in the day, Satav submitted her resignation as an MLC to the legislature secretariat after speaking to Legislative Council Chairman Ram Shinde, sources had said. Besides Satav, former MLA from Solapur district Dilip Mane also joined the BJP.

Elections to the 29 municipal corporations in the state will take place on January 15, and votes will be counted the next day.

Senior Congress leader Nana Patole told reporters in Nagpur that the BJP has become arrogant due to power and no longer respects democratic norms.

Referring to Satav’s defection, he said what inducements she may have received would become clear in time, but added that what had happened was wrong.

The BJP is tempting some leaders with money and posts, he claimed.

“The BJP has become arrogant due to power. It no longer respects democratic principles. Only time will tell what inducements she got. The BJP has started a new dimension: 'money from power, and power from money'," he said.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked of a Congress-free India, but he has included the Congress in the BJP. If we come to power, this BJP will become empty in no time,” he said.

About a Nashik court upholding the conviction of Maharashtra Minister Manikrao Kokate in a cheating and forgery case, Patil said his party colleagues Rahul Gandhi and Sunil Kedar were targeted after court convictions, but Kokate continues to retain his MLA status.

“This government is doing politics with hatred, not with the law,” he said.

The Congress leader also claimed that there is a lot of infighting among the Mahayuti allies of BJP, NCP and Shiv Sena. PTI MR ND CLS NR