If some leader leaves, not necessarily people join him: Vishwajeet Kadam

Kolhapur: If some leader leaves the party, that doesn't mean common people also rally behind him, said Congress MLA Vishwajeet Kadam. He was speaking for the first time about the exodus of leaders from Congress into BJP, with Sangli city president Prithviraj Patil being the most recent to leave the party.Patil, a long-time Congress loyalist and close aid of Kadam, joined BJP on Wednesday in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. Chandrakant Patil, Sangli's guardian minister, told the supporters that Prithviraj Patil had handed a petition of five demands to the CM, and the CM assigned him to fulfil the demands. The demands related to the assurances given by Patil to the people of Sangli during the assembly election held last year. Patil had lost to BJP's sitting MLA Sudhir Gadgil. The five assurances were not disclosed, but sources claimed that the assurances pertain to the development of Sangli city.Meanwhile, Congress leader and MLA Vishwajeet Kadam has spoken for the first time about Prithviraj Patil joining BJP."Chandrakant Patil is the guardian minister of Sangli. He is doing whatever it takes to spread the party's base. Basically, if any leader leaves the party, people go with them. The people of Sangli city and rural areas have affection for Congress. They believe in the ideology of Congress. Sangli has a long-time tradition of supporting Congress. We, all Mahavikas Aghadi leaders, are working actively to address the concerns of the people of Sangli, and whatever BJP is doing, we will give a reply with the help of supporters and common people in the upcoming local body elections," said Kadam.During the event in Mumbai, Chandrakant Patil, citing the votes received by BJP candidate Sudhir Gadgil, Congress candidate Prithviraj Patil, and independent Congress rebel Jayashri Patil, who joined BJP, said that virtually no one is left in the Congress party in Sangli.

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