Ranjitsinh V. Mohite-Patil, son of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MP Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, was formally welcomed into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis here on Wednesday.
Ranjitsinh joined the BJP along with several of his family members - barring his father - and scores of supporters from the NCP.
He is likely to be given BJP ticket to contest from the Madha Lok Sabha constituency in his home district of Solapur.
The move came after a huge show of strength at his hometown Akluj on Tuesday evening where hundreds of supporters goaded him to contest the Lok Sabha polls on BJP symbol.
His father and former Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh, 75, also gave his consent and blessings to Ranjitsinh in his future political endeavours, attracting a mention by Fadnavis at Wednesday's welcome function in Mumbai.
"Maharashtra politics is incomplete without the Mohite-Patils. With Ranjitsinh's entry, an important political family of Maharashtra has joined the BJP. We shall ensure their dignity is not dented in any manner," said Fadnavis.
This has come as a major setback for the NCP which last week tottered on the brink over putting up candidature for the Madha and Maval Lok Sabha seats -- both party strongholds.
For Madha, the choice was NCP President Sharad Pawar and from Maval it was his grand-nephew Parth Ajit Pawar even as the Mohite-Patil family was gripped by anxiety over its political future in the NCP.
Finally, Pawar senior quietly opted out of the race from Madha to make way for the gen-next and Parth was nominated for Maval, before the matter subsided.
But despite Vijaysinh being one of the sitting MPs, the NCP has not yet announced any candidate for Madha in the two lists declared so far.
In fact, Madha was one of the handful of constituencies in the state which remained unaffected by the 'Modi wave' in 2014, but now the 'safe seat' has suddenly become 'insecure'.
An awkward situation could arise if Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil is fielded by NCP from Madha since the BJP plans to nominate his son Ranjitsinh Mohite-Patil in the same constituency - virtually pitting son against father.
For the ruling BJP, this was a second major 'catch' in the poll season. Last week Sujay, son of Congress Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, joined the BJP and is likely to be nominated from Ahmednagar.
Festival of democracy enters second leg with 88 Lok Sabha seats across India set to vote
While 89 constituencies were slated to go to polls in the second phase, as per the initial announcement by the Election Commission, voting in Madhya Pradesh's Betul was advanced to the third phase on May 7 following the death of the BSP candidate in the fray.
Tripura BJP issues show-cause notice to party leader for slamming TMP chief Pradyot Debbarma
A day before the second phase of Lok Sabha elections, the ruling BJP in Tripura on Thursday served a show cause-notice to one of the party’s Vice-Presidents, Patal Kanya Jamatia, who accused Tipra Motha Party (TMP) chief Pradyot Bikram Manikya Debbarma of “spreading hatred” among tribals and non-tribals in the state.
PM Modi ups ante against Congress, says Rajiv Gandhi abolished inheritance law to 'save own interests'
Upping the ante against the Congress on the 'inheritance tax' issue, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday launched another scathing attack on the grand old party, saying it was former PM Rajiv Gandhi who abolished the inheritance law "to save their own interests" after the demise of his mother Indira Gandhi.
Multi-cornered contest in Tripura East LS seat going to polls on Friday
A multi-cornered contest will be witnessed in the Tripura East Lok Sabha seat, which goes to the polls in the second phase of the 7-phase parliamentary elections on Friday.
Credit card data of 17K ICICI Bank users exposed; bank blocks cards, assures compensation
After credit card data of at least 17,000 new ICICI Bank customers was exposed and reached "wrong users", the bank said on Thursday that it has blocked these cards and is issuing new ones to the customers.
TRIPURA: BSF jawan on election duty dies after rifle accidently goes off
In a tragic incident amid the preparation for the second phase of polling in Tripura, a Border Security Force (BSF) jawan, who was engaged in election duty died after his rifle went off accidentally.
13.96 lakh voters to cast vote in 1664 Polling stations tomorrow
Although nine candidates are in the fray in the Tripura East Lok Sabha constituency, the main battle will be mainly between BJP candidate Kirit Singh Debbarma and CPIM candidate Rajendra Reang.
CM leads campaign with vigor, Completes 30 rallies, 18 road shows covering over 6,000 km
Chief Minister Prof. Dr. Manik Saha vigorously campaigned for BJP candidates in the Lok Sabha elections & Bidhan Sabha by-election, participating in 30 public rallies, 18 road shows, and 7 padyatras.