Satyajit Gaekwad may defect from Congress to SP

Malegaon: Satyajitsinhrao Gaekwad, a scion of the erstwhile Baroda State and a key member of Rahul Gandhi's core team, has decided to desert Congress and join Samajwadi Party (SP) to contest the Lok Sabha elections from the Dhule constituency.
A former MP, Gaekwad said he had been in talks with the SP's national and state leadership and an official announcement on his decision would follow in the next few days.
"The Congress high command is surrounded by some sycophants and does not recognise the contributions of loyal party workers. I am feeling suffocated and have decided to shun my 26-year association with the Congress," he said.
Holding a masters degree in commerce from MS University, Gaekwad is a seasoned politician and had held the post of the Indian Youth Congress president in the past. His defection to the SP looked imminent after he held a "long secret meeting" with the party's SP Maharashtra president, Abu Asim Azmi, in a Malegaon hotel last week.
Sources in the SP's Mumbai unit said Gaekwad was negotiating with the top party leadership and "a suitable timing is being worked out for his induction into the SP fold".
Gaekwad was livid with the Congress high command ever since he lost the party ticket from the Dhule-Malegaon parliamentary constituency to Amrish Patel.
According to Gaekwad's close aides, his candidature was certain as Patel had lost the election in 2009. "But Gaekwad failed to get the favour of the Congress high command reportedly because of the last-minute lobbying by Patel," an aide said.
"Gaekwad's name was proposed by the Congress observers who had visited the constituency last month. But he has been betrayed by a few members in the Congress steering committee," a source said requesting anonymity.
The Dhule-Malegaon parliamentary seat has over seven lakh Maratha voters. Political analysts attribute Patel's defeat in the 2009 election to his failure to garner the support of the Marathas. It was also alleged that a few Congress members had worked against Patel.
If Gaekwad joins the SP and contests the election, the Dhule-Malegaon Lok Sabha seat, where BJP has fielded Subhash Bhamre and Aam Aadmi Party Ansari Nihal, will see a four-cornered battle.