4 Cong-NCP MLAs resign ahead of polls, set to join BJP today

NCP MLAs Vaibhav Pichad, Sandeep Naik, Shivendra Raje and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar submit resignation to Speaker

Navi Mumbai NCP leader Ganesh Naik’s son Sandeep, Satara MLA Shivendrasinh Bhosale, NCP leader Madhukar Pichad’s son Vaibhav Pichad and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar submitted their resignations.

FOUR Opposition Congress-NCP legislators in Maharashtra resigned from the State Assembly on Tuesday, amid talk of their joining the ruling BJP. The Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which recently saw many regional satraps leave the 20-year-old party, bore the maximum brunt of the latest move as three of the four MLAs belonged to it. Navi Mumbai NCP leader Ganesh Naik’s son Sandeep, Satara MLA Shivendrasinh Bhosale, NCP leader Madhukar Pichad’s son Vaibhav Pichad and Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambkar submitted their resignations separately to Assembly Speaker Haribhau Bagade at the Vidhan Bhawan here.

They are likely to join the BJP on Wednesday along with former NCP State women’s wing chief Chitra Wagh, who quit the party last week. In June, Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, then Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, quit the Congress and was inducted into the BJP and made a Cabinet Minister. sssThe NCP received a jolt last week when its Mumbai unit chief Sachin Ahir joined the ruling coalition partner Shiv Sena.

Vaibhav Pichad, who represents Akole in Ahmednagar district and whose father Madhukar Pichad was former NCP minister, had stated last week that he was joining the BJP. Kolambkar, a seven-term lawmaker from Mumbai who represents Wadala seat in the city at present, was originally with the Shiv Sena before joining the Congress. Reacting to the Tuesday’s development, the NCP accused the BJP of “threatening and luring” the lawmakers to make them switch loyalties in the run-up to the Assembly polls which are due in September-October.

Sandeep Naik, who represents Airoli, told PTI that his supporters wanted him to join the BJP “for Navi Mumbai’s development”. Navi Mumbai is considered a model city and it needs a strong backing like that from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for further development, he said. “Fadnavis has taken the entire state on the path of development,” he said. He denied that opposition MLAs were being threatened and pressurised to quit their parties.