Pratibha Shinde of Lok Sangharsh leaves Congress, after year-long stint as state vice-president, for NCP
Congress
and a prominent leader of Lok Sangharsh morcha defending tribal rights, has resigned from the party and has decided to move to
NCP
less than a year after her appointment.
Shinde, who joined Congress in Dec 2023, has been a key advocate for the tribal communities in Nashik, Nandurbar, Dhule, and Jalgaon districts since the 1990s. Influenced by Rahul Gandhi's Bharat Jodo Yatra, she chose to join the same party she had previously agitated against for tribal rights.
"Rahul Gandhi is very committed to his ideals. Whatever you call it, we were agitating against the same Congress when it was in power for the rights of the tribals, and it is not that our fight was futile.
We got our just demands sanctioned during our agitations. However, after we met Rahul Gandhi during a rally in Jalgaon-Jamod (Buldhana district) in Nov 2022, I was invited by him to join the party to ensure more teeth to the agitations.
I accepted that a year later," Shinde said.
In July 2024, Shinde was promoted as vice president of state Congress and she endeavoured to raise tribal demands with govt. However, after allegedly failing to receive support from the grassroots, she chose to sever ties with Congress.
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"Whenever I met the seniors in the party, even the current ones, I was told that since I was directly inducted, I could draw my own programmes, clearly indicating that my position was not taken professionally in the party," alleged Shinde.
Shinde also attempted to engage with senior members of NCP (SP) but received no response, leading her to join NCP and become part of Mahayuti. When questioned about her decision to transfer to NCP rather than any other Mahayuti party, Shinde said, "I cannot think of Shiv Sena in either form — be it led by Eknath Shinde or Uddhav Thackeray.
BJP is also out of the question given the stand of all these three parties on Hindutva.
Since NCP has been walking the path of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Shahu Maharaj, Mahatma Phule, and Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar's teachings, I decided to join the party."
Addressing her transition from an organisation fighting for tribal rights to active politics, Shinde said, "I have realised that fighting alone is not the solution. We have been fighting since 1992, and though we have achieved great milestones, it is important to bring in the change by being part of the system."
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