Two former ministers from NCP, Cong join BJP in Maharashtra

NCP leader Ganesh Naik and Congress' Harshvardhan Patil, both former state ministers, joined the ruling BJP in Maharashtra on Wednesday ahead of next month's Assembly elections. The two opposition parties are witnessing a steady exodus of leaders in recent months, especially with state elections nearing.

Harshvardhan Patil joined the saffron party at an event in south Mumbai in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. Fadnavis indicated that Patil will be the BJP's candidate from Indapur Assembly seat in Pune district.

Patil's exit is another major blow to the Congress in the state. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, another senior leader, left the Congress after the Lok Sabha polls. Patil's exit also came a day after actor-turned- politician Urmila Matondkar and senior Mumbai Congress leader Kripashankar Singh quit the grand old party.

Patil, four-time MLA from Indapur, had lost the 2014 Assembly election to NCP's Dattatrey Bharne. According to sources, Patil supported Supriya Sule, NCP chief Sharad Pawar's daughter, when she contested the Lok Sabha election from Baramati this year in the hope that the NCP would cede the Indapur seat to the Congress in Assembly polls.

However, NCP leader Ajit Pawar stated later that decision on Indapur seat had not been taken. Patil had been a minister throughout between 1995 to 2014, first in the Sena-BJP government and then thrice in Congress-NCP government.

The Nationalist Congress Party also received a considerable setback with Ganesh Naik, Navi Mumbai strongman, joining the BJP with around 50 corporators on Wednesday. Naik, his son and former MP Sanjeev Naik and the 50- odd corporators of the Navi Municipal Corporation (NMMC) formally joined the ruling party in the presence of the Chief Minister at Vashi in Navi Mumbai.

It paved the way for BJP rule in the NMMC. Naik, who cut his teeth in politics as a Shiv Sena leader, joined the NCP in 1999 following differences with late Bal Thackeray, the Sena's founder.

He belongs to the Agari community, which is politically dominant in Navi Mumbai-Raigad belt. He had lost to the BJP's Manda Mhatre from Belapur assembly seat in 2014. Naik's younger son Sandip joined the BJP on July 31, alongwith two other NCP legislators -- Shivendrasinh Bhosale and Vaibhav Pichad. Former Kolhapur MP Dhananjay Mahadik also switched loyalty to the ruling party recently.

Earlier, the NCP lost its Mumbai unit chief Sachin Ahir and MLAs Jaydutta Kshirsagar and Pandurang Barora to the Shiv Sena, BJP's ally..