After Ravindra Dhangekar’s Switch To Shinde Sena, Sangram Thopte Set To Join BJP—Another Blow To Congress In Pune |
Months after former Kasba MLA Ravindra Dhangekar joined Shiv Sena’s Shinde faction, Congress is likely to suffer a major setback in Pune.
NDTV Marathi reported that Sangram Thopte, a three-time MLA from Bhor assembly constituency, will soon resign from the Congress and join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
It is learnt that he will join the BJP on April 22 after resigning on Sunday. Sangram Thopte is an important political figure in Bhor, and his discontent with the Congress is being considered as the main reason for his decision to join the BJP. His entry into the BJP could be a major political setback for the Congress.
In 2024, assemly polls, NCP Ajit Pwar Faction’s Shankar Hiraman Mandekar emerged victorious over INC’s Sangram Anantrao Thopte in the elections. Mandekar secured a total of 1,26,455 votes, while Thopte garnered 1,06,817 votes, finishing second to the NCP candidate.
In Bhor, the Congress party has held a strong foothold in this region, with Anantrao Thopte winning the seat six times and his son, Sangram Thopte, securing victory on three occasions.
Sangram Anantrao Thopte, representing the Congress, won the constituency in the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections. Earlier, in the 2009 Assembly elections, Thopte defeated Shiv Sena’s Dhamale Sharad Bajirao by a margin of 18,580 votes, which accounted for 9.78% of the total votes cast. The Indian National Congress (INC) had a vote share of 31.09% in the constituency during that election.
In March, this year, former Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena along with his supporters in Pune.
There was aa speculation for the last few months that Dhangekar, who won the Kasba assembly seat in Maharashtra’s Pune district during a bypoll in 2023, might join the ruling Shiv Sena. In last year’s Lok Sabha polls, the Congress fielded him from Pune constituency, but he lost to BJP’s Murlidhar Mohol. Dhangekar also contested the 2024 state assembly poll from Kasba seat, but was defeated by BJP’s Hemant Rasne, whom he had defeated in the 2023 Kasba bypoll.
