Two prominent names in Maharashtra’s traditional wrestling circuit — Double Maharashtra Kesari title-holder Chandrahar Patil and Hind Kesari champion Santosh Aba Vetal — met Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MLA Prashant Thakur in Panvel during a courtesy visit on Thursday.
Patil won the Maharashtra Kesari wrestling title in 2007 and 2008. He later entered electoral politics and contested the 2024 Lok Sabha election from Sangli on a Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) ticket. In June 2025, he joined the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
Vetal, from Surli village in Karad taluka of Satara district, won the Hind Kesari title in 2014 at a national-level wrestling competition held in Haryana. He was reported to be the first wrestler from Satara district to achieve the distinction, bringing recognition to his home region’s wrestling tradition.
The two wrestlers visited Thakur, the BJP MLA representing Panvel and a BJP Maharashtra state secretary, along with Laxman Dada Gaikwad, state secretary of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s Mathadi Kamgar Sena.
During the meeting, the visitors and Thakur exchanged greetings and discussed various subjects. Thakur welcomed the wrestlers, while they felicitated the MLA. However, no specific agenda, decisions or political announcements arising from the meeting were disclosed.
Harshvardhan Patil, general secretary of the BJP’s Kamothe mandal, and Uttam Nana Jarg, the mandal’s vice-president, were also present.
The visit brought together recognised figures from Maharashtra’s wrestling community and representatives of different political organisations. In the absence of further details about the discussions, the meeting is best understood as a courtesy interaction rather than evidence of any new political arrangement.
