The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine is likely to lose its hold in a lot of bastions across Maharashtra as desertions across the two parties continue.
Riding on the success of its outstanding performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is confident of doing well in the state polls too.
This has resulted in uneasiness in the opposition camp, which is being clearly seen in the considerable number of defections among NCP leaders. Sources revealed that politicians are scared of losing yet again if they continue to stay in the coalition, and as such have jumped ship to BJP and Shiv Sena.
Among the defections, those of Shivendraraje Bhosale and Udayanraje Bhosale, have affected NCP the most. This, because the bastion of Satara has given the party the maximum number of MLAs. On the other hand, the BJP has started making inroads into Satara by fielding former Congress candidate Jaykumar Gore.
In addition to this, the BJP has also managed to upset the NCP-Congress by winning over senior Congress leaders Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Madhukar Pichad before and after the Lok Sabha elections. Sena has also been instrumental in showing its presence around Ahmednagar by winning over Bhausaheb Kamble, Congress MLA from Shrirampur.
With the defection of NCP's Ganesh Naik along with his two sons, Sandeep and Sanjeev, the BJP has managed to establish a strong footing in Navi Mumbai, which has for long been considered as NCP's stronghold.
The defection of Padmasinh Patil's son, Jagjitsingh in Osmanabad has helped BJP too. Incidentally, Padmasinh Patil is one of the closest aides of Sharad Pawar. Also, to make itself strong in the Konkan region, Shiv Sena roped in Sunil Tatkare's son Anil and nephew Avdhut. In Pune, BJP pulled in Harshvardhan Patil and Jaydutt Kshirsagar was picked up in Beed by Shiv Sena.
By inducting former Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar from Naigaon in its camp, the BJP is set to add another constituency in its kitty.
The Sena has also planned to regain the seat of Shahapur by fielding ex-NCP leader Pandurang Warora. Similarly, the party was made stronger in Solapur by the defections of two NCP leaders, Dilip Sopal and Rashmi Bagal. To make matters worse for Congress-NCP, BJP won over Sushilkumar Shinde's close aide Dilip Mane in Solapur and former NCP MLA Dhananjay Mahadik from Kolhapur.
Shiv Sena has left no stone unturned. Targeting the adivasi belt, the party has chosen Nirmala Gavit in Igatpuri. Moreover, the defection of Sachin Ahir to Shiv Sena and that of Kalidas Kolambkar to BJP has dealt a strong blow to NCP which as it is did not enjoy much power in Mumbai.
Draining Power
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With the defection of Ganesh Naik along with his sons, Sandeep and Sanjeev, the BJP has managed to establish a strong footing in Navi Mumbai, which was considered NCP’s stronghold
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| While, the defection of Sachin Ahir to Shiv Sena and that of Kalidas Kolambkar to BJP dealt a strong blow to NCP which as it is did not enjoy much power in Mumbai |
—Zee Media Newsroom
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