Mumbai | Just a few months remaining for Maharashtra assembly polls, three NCP and one Congress MLAs who had earlier resigned have now joined the BJP.
The BJP might field the four in the assembly elections due later this year, depending on how the seat-sharing deal between the BJP and ally Shiv Sena shapes up, sources in the saffron party said.
The three NCP MLAs who switched their loyalties are Shivendraraje Bhosale from Satara, Sandeep Naik from Airoli in Navi Mumbai, and Vaibhav Pichad from Akole in Ahmednagar district. The lone Congress MLA is Kalidas Kolambkar from Wadala in Mumbai.
The MLAs joined the ruling party in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and state BJP unit president Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday morning.
The induction of these senior leaders was timed ahead of the Chief Minister Fadnavis’ 24-day election campaign tour.
“We are glad that a senior leader of the caliber of Madhukar Pichad, a six-term legislator such as Kolambkar, a descendent of Maratha king Shivaji, Shivendra Raje Bhosale and youth leader such as Sanjiv Naik, whose family has clout across Navi Mumbai and an aggressive woman’s leader like Chitra Wagh, have joined ranks with the BJP,” said Fadnavis.
“BJP is not a dharmashala, no one can get up and walk into our party. We are weighing in the work of the leaders, their calibre, grassroots connect before they are inducted,” the Chief Minister added.
As an independent media platform, we do not take advertisements from governments and corporate houses. It is you, our readers, who have supported us on our journey to do honest and unbiased journalism. Please contribute, so that we can continue to do the same in future.
