Former Congress MLA Sangram Thopte officially joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday, accompanied by his supporters from Bhor taluka in Pune district. He was welcomed into the party by Maharashtra BJP President and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule, along with working president Ravindra Chavan.

Thopte, who previously served as the MLA for Bhor constituency three times, lost the 2024 assembly election to NCP candidate Shankar Mandekar. Coming from a family with deep roots in the Congress party, Thopte is the son of veteran Congress leader Anantrao Thopte, who represented Bhor six times and had a longstanding rivalry with NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar.

Thopte had resigned from the Congress last week. During the induction ceremony, he expressed his disappointment with the party, stating, “I was a committed Congressman and worked diligently for the party and the Maha Vikas Aghadi, but my efforts and loyalty were never acknowledged.” He added that both he and his father had dedicated themselves to promoting Congress ideology at the grassroots level, but the lack of recognition ultimately pushed him to leave.

Explaining his decision to join the BJP, Thopte said he was drawn to the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Maharashtra’s Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. He emphasized that although he had known Fadnavis for years, he never leveraged that connection for political gain. Now, he sees the BJP as the right platform to continue his political journey, calling it the country’s largest and most effective political force.