5 Sena councillors who switched over to NCP back in party fold

On Wednesday afternoon, the five councillors along with Parner NCP MLA Nilesh Lanke and local NCP leader Bhau Koregaokar met Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at his residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai. The five councillors rejoined the Sena and said the chief minister assured to resolve their issues.

Five councillors from Parner in Ahmednagar district, who switched over from the Shiv Sena to NCP last week, rejoined the Uddhav Thackeray-led party on Wednesday. Some media reports recently claimed there were tensions between the Shiv Sena and its ally NCP over the five councillors of the Parner Municipal Council switching over to the Sharad Pawar-led party.

They had last Saturday joined the NCP in the presence of state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at Baramati in Pune district. On Wednesday afternoon, the five councillors along with Parner NCP MLA Nilesh Lanke and local NCP leader Bhau Koregaokar met Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray at his residence 'Matoshree' in Mumbai.

The five councillors rejoined the Sena and said the chief minister assured to resolve their issues. One of them, Mudassar Sayyad, told reporters that they had issues with the local Shiv Sena leadership.

"The water problem in our area wasn't getting resolved and we decided to work under the leadership of local NCP MLA Nilesh Lanke," he said. The councillors said Thackeray has now assured them that their issues would be resolved.

Sources close to Thackeray said the chief minister made his displeasure known after the five councillors switched over to the NCP last week. "When we are in an alliance and need to run a government, such developments don't bode well," Thackeray made it known, the sources said.

Ajit Pawar sent the councillors back to 'Matoshree' with the local NCP MLA, Sena sources said. Earlier this week, NCP president Sharad Pawar met Thackeray at the latter's residence.

On Tuesday, Shiv Sena's Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut played down the Parner issue. "Some of our councillors joined the NCP in Ajit Dada's presence. This does not mean Ajit Dada or other senior (NCP) leaders poached those councillors...But, henceforth, we should speak to each other before taking such a decision," Raut said.

"Some things happen unintentionally...The issue is small. It was discussed where it should have been discussed. But there is no bickering due to it," he added.

The Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress are the three constituents of the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government..

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