A rebellion by former Maharashtra Youth Congress president Satyajeet Tambe and his father, three-time MLC Dr Sudhir Tambe, against the central and state leadership of the party over the biennial Legislative Council elections, is one of the biggest jolts to the party in the state in recent times. The Tambes’ decision to ignore the party high command’s order asking Sudhir to file his nomination for the Nasik Division Graduate constituency, and for Satyajeet to step in as an Independent candidate for the same constituency, has not only challenged the party leadership's authority, but also put one of its tallest state leaders on the backfoot. Congress legislature party leader and former state party chief Balasaheb Thorat alias Vijay, is Satyajeet's maternal uncle. Thorat’s sister Durga is married to Sudhir, making him Sudhir’s brother-in-law as well. Incidentally, both Thorat and Sudhir made their electoral debuts as Independents, that too, against official Congress candidates. A nine-time MLA from Ahmednagar’s Sangamner Assembly seat, Thorat is said to be one of Rahul Gandhi's closest and most trusted aides from Maharashtra. He was the main organiser of the Maharashtra leg of Rahul’s Bharat Jodo Yatra, whose success earned him accolades from the party leadership. Both the Thorat and Tambe families have been loyal to the Congress for generations. Balasaheb's father Bhausaheb Thorat is one of the pioneers of Maharashtra’s cooperative movement. Today, the Thorats run one of the biggest cooperative and educational empires in the state. Balasaheb Thorat contested his first Assembly election in 1985, against the Congress’s official candidate, Shankutala Thorat. He won, and then joined the Congress. Since then, he has been consistently winning from Sangamner on a Congress ticket. In 2009, Sudhir Tambe contested a council election as an Independent from the Nasik Division Graduate seat, despite the Congress-NCP alliance having already given their ticket to Nitin Thakare. Sudhir too won and thereafter joined the Congress. Like Balasaheb, Satyajeet was also a key organiser of the Maharashtra leg of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Yatra. He was responsible for setting up residential camps throughout the yatra’s route in the state. A former state Youth Congress president, Satyajeet set up his own team across the state with many workers in key positions still part of the organisation. Unlike in the past, when Balasaheb and Sudhir had separately challenged the Congress as Independents, and then joined the party because it was a principal force in the state, the political situation is not as favourable to the Congress now. As a result, Satyajeet, 41, who has been associated with the Congress for 22 years having won his first election — for a Zilla Parishad seat — at the age of 24, was publicly invited to join the BJP by Fadnavis a few weeks ago. The BJP has also strategically decided not to field a candidate against him, signalling that its doors are open and that Satyajeet could be co-opted, once he gets elected. In fact, BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule has already said if Satyajeet seeks help, the party will consider the proposal. On Thursday, after filing the nomination, Satyajeet said he remains a Congress worker and a MVA candidate. “But since I could not get the official ticket from the party, I have filed as an Independent. Hence, I'll seek support from all parties, including the BJP,” he had said. Meanwhile, even Balasaheb Thorat attended the book launch of the Marathi translation of Gavin Newsome's Citizenville done by Satyajeet Tambe. NCP leader Ajit Pawar was also supposed to be present but did not turn up, leaving Thorat and Fadnavis to share the stage. Clearly, the BJP is geared up to fish in Maharashtra's murky political waters to drive home their advantage.
