Jayashri Patil, member of late Congress stalwart Vasantdada Patil's family, joins BJP

Mumbai, Jun 18 (PTI) Jayashri Patil, a member of the family of former Maharashtra chief minister late Vasantdada Patil, joined the Bharatiya Janata Party here on Wednesday citing "years of injustice within Congress".

Patil, expelled from Congress after she contested the 2024 assembly election independently, was inducted in the saffron party in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

She is the wife of late Madan Patil, a former state minister and nephew of Vasantdada Patil. She is also the aunt by marriage of Sangli MP Vishal Patil, a Congress leader.

She repeatedly faced neglect in the Congress, Patil said on this occasion.

"I always faced injustice when it came to assigning responsibilities. That is why I decided to leave the party where I was not being respected," she said.

After being denied Congress ticket to contest the assembly election from Sangli city, Jayashri Patil contested as an independent. She lost and was expelled from the Congress for six years.

Welcoming her into the BJP fold, Fadnavis praised Vasantdada Patil who died in 1989.

"Vasantdada Patil's contribution to education, administration and leadership in Maharashtra is unparalleled....This legacy was carried forward by his nephew Madan Patil, and now it is being taken forward by Jayashri Patil. Unfortunately, the Congress could not recognise her contribution," he said.

The BJP has been steadily expanding its footprint in Sangli and wants to bring in committed leaders from other parties, Fadnavis said, adding that the Congress has become "directionless." "When we were in opposition, we never compromised the nation's interest. Today, when their (Congress) leaders speak against our own army, how can their party workers face society? That's the moral decay we're witnessing," he said.

Sangli, part of Western Maharashtra's sugar belt, was long a Congress bastion. From 1980 onwards, all Lok Sabha elections from the region were won by members of Vasantdada Patil's family on a Congress ticket until the BJP broke the trend in 2014 and 2019. However, the family's hold was reaffirmed in 2024 when his grandson Vishal Patil won as an independent. PTI ND KRK