Buldhana: Ex-Congress MLA Rahul Bondre to join BJP, announces on Facebook
Former Chikhli MLA and ex-Congress district president Rahul Bondre has announced he is joining the BJP
Congress has suffered a major setback in Buldhana district as the trend of party-switching in Maharashtra politics continues after the assembly elections. Former Chikhli MLA and former Congress district president Rahul Bondre has himself announced that he is joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. The decision has stirred up politics across Chikhli and the wider Buldhana district.
Bondre announced his political decision in a post on social media. In the post, he recalled his long political journey with Congress, writing that the party had given him several opportunities and positions in his social and political life. He also said that he had formed many close and personal bonds while working with Congress.
Bondre wrote in the post that Mukul Wasnik guided him at the start of his political career. He also said that Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal had always given him the love of a brother.
But Bondre has now made clear that he has decided to give his political journey a new direction. He has made public his decision to join the BJP. He also said, in an emotional tone, that he would never forget his old colleagues from Congress.
Following Bondre's move, discussion has begun over a new political equation taking shape in Chikhli. Bondre has previously been MLA from the Chikhli seat twice and has also held the post of Buldhana district Congress president. In the 2024 assembly elections, he contested from Chikhli on a Congress ticket but was defeated by BJP's Shweta Mahale.
Talk of Bondre moving to the BJP had surfaced before this as well, with reports in August 2026 about his possible entry into the party. Bondre has now put an end to that speculation by announcing the switch himself.
It remains to be seen what impact this development has on the political equations in Congress state president Harshvardhan Sapkal's own home district of Buldhana. All eyes are now on how Congress workers and the local BJP organisation in the district, including Chikhli, view this change.
