The number of Congress MPs reached three digits, got the support of independent Vishal Patil

Congress has improved its performance significantly. But it fell short of a century in the Lok Sabha results declared on Tuesday. Congress has added one more MP to its kitty. Congress rebel Vishal Patil, who won as an independent candidate from Maharashtra, on Thursday extended support to the party. Congress won 99 seats in the election. Congress MLA Vishwajit Kadam, who fought for him within the party, has also extended support to Vishal Patil. With the support of Vishal Patil, the strength of Congress in the Lok Sabha will increase to 100.

Grandson of former Maharashtra chief minister Vasantdada Patil, Vishal Patil won the Lok Sabha election from the Sangli seat defeating BJP’s Sanjaykaka Patil. He had rebelled and contested as an independent after the Sangli parliamentary seat was assigned to the Shiv Sena-UBT in the seat-sharing arrangement among Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies.

The Uddhav Thackeray Sena faction’s move to announce its candidate even before the seat-sharing agreement had led to some rift in Maharashtra’s opposition alliance. The Congress had repeatedly appealed to the Sena to reconsider its decision. Vishal Patil and Vishwajeet Kadam met Mr Kharge and Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi yesterday and the independent MP submitted his letter of support to the party. The leaders said that if the Lok Sabha secretariat gives its approval, Vishal Patil can be called an associate MP of the Congress and the party’s strength in the Lok Sabha will go up to 100.