Pasha Patel’s defection to BJP a major setback for NCP

Immediately after Patel joined the BJP, its national vice-president Gopinath Munde appointed him as the vice-president of the Maharashtra unit. “He has joined the BJP unconditionally. His only condition was that he should be allowed to wear the badge of the Shetkari Sanghatana. We have accepted his request,” Munde said.

Pasha Patel is a very prominent leader of the farmers from the Marathawada region and has been associated with the Shetkari Sanghatana since its inception two decades ago. During the last parliamentary election, though Pasha Patel unsuccessfully contested the election from Latur, he had secured more than 1.80 lakh votes. In fact, during the campaign, Pawar had taken personal interest in his candidature and had held a record number of meetings in Latur, home town of Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.

Pasha Patel is the first Muslim leader to join the BJP after president Bangaru Laxman appealed to its party workers to ensure that the members of the minority community were not neglected. “Along with Pasha Patel, we feel that quite a large number of senior Muslim personalities will join the BJP,” a senior leader said.

Patel himself expects a political miracle in the days to come. “You wait for two to three months and you will witness major political changes in the state,” he said.