3 NCP (SP) leaders may switch to NCP

Mumbai: After the drubbing in the assembly polls in November 2024, the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) may face large scale desertions in the coming weeks. Speculations are rife that at least three leaders of the party — Rahul Mote, Rahul Jagtap and Vijay Bhamble — are in touch with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and may switch sides soon, said party insiders. All three leaders had unsuccessfully contested the assembly elections last year.

Mote, a three-term MLA, had contested the assembly poll against Shiv Sena’s Tanaji Sawant from the Paranda assembly seat, but lost by 1,509 votes while Bhamale had contested from Jintur and lost to BJP’s Meghana Bordikar for the second consecutive time. Jagtap had contested from Shrigonda as a rebel candidate after the seat was allocated to Shiv Sena (UBT) as part of Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi’s seat-sharing deal. He had lost to BJP’s Vikram Pachpute.

All the three former MLAs are planning to switch over to the NCP as the Sharad Pawar-led party’s tally in the assembly is down to just 10 seats, said insiders.

Speculations about NCP (SP) leaders jumping ship began emerging soon after the poor showing in the assembly polls, and several leaders were said to be in touch with the BJP. Rumours suggested that Dipak Chavan, another former MLA and Sanjeevraje Naik-Nimbalkar, brother of senior NCP leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar, would switch over to the NCP.

Both leaders had joined the NCP (SP) ahead of the assembly polls, in which Chavan, a three-term MLA from Phaltan, was defeated by the NCP’s Sachin Patil. Neither Chavan nor Naik-Nimbalkar have quit the NCP (SP) yet, though.

Mahesh Tapase, chief spokesperson of NCP (SP) refuted the latest speculations of desertion by the three former MLAs, saying those who wanted to shift to the NCP had already done so before the elections. “I don’t see any reason why those who are in the party will shift, because they have made a conscious choice to be loyal to Pawar saheb,” he said.

Despite the denial, questions are being raised about the activities of several NCP(SP) leaders, including state president Jayant Patil, who met BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule two days ago, setting tongues wagging.