Mumbai, Sep 3 (IANS): Leader of the Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi and party President Mallikarjun Kharge, who is also Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha, shall visit Sangli on September 5, giving a booster to the state unit ahead of the upcoming Lok Sabha elections, officials said here on Tuesday.
During the trip, they shall unveil a statue of the late Congress heavyweight and ex-minister Patangrao Kadam there, in the likely presence of Maha Vikas Aghadi allies, Nationalist Congress Party (SP) President Sharad Pawar and Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray.
Top leaders including state Congress President Nana F. Patole, Leader of the Opposition (Assembly) Vijay Wadettiwar, Congress Legislature Party Leader Balasaheb Thorat, former Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, and others shall remain present.
Both Sharad Pawar and Thackeray have been invited to the event, but their response is not known yet, said a party leader in Mumbai.
The late Patangrao Kadam (January 8, 1944 – March 9, 2018), was an MLA from the Sangli district, had been a minister in the erstwhile Democratic Front government comprising Congress and undivided NCP, and served as President of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC).
A highly respected leader, he was the founder of the Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University, an educational empire headquartered in Pune, with branches all over India, besides being a big player in the state's cooperative sector.
His statue shall be inaugurated at the Sonhira Sugar Factory in Kadegaon, coinciding with Teacher’s Day on 5 September.
Incidentally, Kadam’s son Vishwajeet Kadam is also a senior Congress leader and lords over the party in the Sangli district and surroundings.
The event is likely to be attended by AICC General Secretary in-charge of Maharashtra Ramesh Chennithala, AICC GS (Organisation) K C Venugopal and Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy.
Sangli has been a traditional Congress stronghold and in the Lok Sabha 2024 elections, the party was keen to contest it.
However, the SS (UBT) unilaterally fielded wrestler Chandrahar Patil against the sitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Sanjaykaka Patil.
The pitch was queered when the Congress’ prime contender, Vishal Patil - ex-CM Vasantrao Patil’s grandson and son of 5-time MP Prakashbapu Patil – entered the fray as an Independent, and trounced both Sanjaykaka Patil (BJP) and Chandrahar Patil (SS-UBT).
Subsequently, as expected, Vishal Patil extended support to the Congress and has also patched up with the SS (UBT).
In the upcoming Assembly elections, the MVA will make a strong bid to grab the maximum number of seats from Sangli where the BJP has two MLAs, one with Shiv Sena with the sitting MLA passing away, and one each with Congress and NCP (SP).