Differences within the Vikhe-Patil family have spilled out into the open following a public exchange between member of the Swedish Parliament Nila Vikhe-Patil and her uncle Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and cousin Sujay Vikhe-Patil over her recent electoral victory.
The issue surfaced after Sujay, a former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Ahilyanagar, remarked that while one member of the Vikhe-Patil family had lost the Lok Sabha (LS) election in India, another had won a parliamentary election in Sweden. “I had seen a video where Sujay is boasting about how one Vikhe-Patil family member was defeated in India and another one tasted victory in Sweden. Nila is the daughter of educationist Ashok Vikhe-Patil, Radhakrishna’s elder brother.
Nila – who was elected to the Swedish Parliament from the Stockholm City constituency on September 13 on a Green Party ticket – questioned the attempts by her uncle and cousin to associate themselves with her victory saying that she had not been in contact with them for nearly a decade. Sujay had lost the 2024 LS election from Ahilyanagar to Nationalist Congress Party/NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar/SP) MP Nilesh Lanke.
Following Sujay’s remarks, Nila said that she was surprised by them and that neither Sujay nor Radhakrishna should take credit for her electoral success. His comments have surprised me since I have not been in contact with either my uncle or cousin for over a decade,” Nila said. She said that Radhakrishna had called to congratulate her after her victory, but maintained that her political journey was independent of the politics practised by her uncle and cousin. “I will never change my party,” she said, referring to her association with the Green Party. “Make your achievements so great that those who refused to recognise you until yesterday are forced to take your name to showcase their own greatness,” Lanke said while congratulating Nila on her election.
Nila has previously worked as a political adviser in the Swedish prime minister’s office and served on the Stockholm City Council.
