In a major setback to the Congress, the Sonia Gandhi-led party on Friday lost the elections to the civic body of Latur city, the traditional bastion of late charismatic leader Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Late Deshmukh has been the chief minister of Maharashtra twice and was also a union minister in the Dr Manmohan Singh government.
His eldest son Amit Deshmukh is a sitting MLA from Latur city constituency while youngest son Dhiraj Deshmukh is an member of the Latur zilla parishad. His another son, Ritesh Deshmkh is an actor and is involved in several social initiatives in the district.
In the 70-member Latur Municipal Corporation, BJP won 41 seats - getting majority while Congress was stranded to 28. In fact, BJP could not win a single seat in the 2012 polls while Congress was reduced to 28 from 29 seats.
The Latur city and district in Marathwada region was the focal point of the water crisis last year and water had to be provided by train wagons.
For BJP, the charge was led by Sambhaji Patil Nilangekar, the MLA from Nilanga, who is the Maharashtra Labour, Skill Development, Earthquake Rehabilitation & Ex-Servicemen Welfare. He is grandson of former chief minister Shivajirao Patil-Nilangekar.
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