Mungantiwar hints at crossover of Congress leaders

Speculations about the defection of some Congress leaders to the BJP in Maharashtra got strengthened Wednesday with Finance Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar saying that "good people" in the Congress could be inducted into the saffron party. Taking potshots at the Rahul Gandhi-led party, which suffered back-to-back reverses in 2014 and 2019 polls, the senior BJP leader said the Congress has lost its utility in politics like "expired drugs".

"There are some good people in Congress who are like the right people in the wrong party. There are some good people in Congress who want to serve with dedication for people. Such people will be taken along in the BJP," he told reporters.

Mungantiwar also said the tree plantation campaign of the Forest department which aims to plant 33 crore saplings, will be held between July 1 and September 30. Reports of some Congress and NCP MLAs possibly joining the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls, due in October this year, emerged after the NDA's emphatic victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

In Maharashtra, the NDA has won 43 seats. Political grapevine is that state Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, whose son successfully contested the Lok Sabha poll on BJP's ticket, is set to join the BJP.