Come Sunday and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is likely to witness a ‘mega recruitment’ of leaders from the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and other parties at a rally in Solapur, in the presence of party president Amit Shah.
Among the top leaders who are likely to join the BJP include former chief minister and current Rajya Sabha MP from the BJP quota Narayan Rane. Mr. Rane will reportedly dissolve his party, the Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha, which he formed after quitting the Congress. His two sons, Congress MLA Nitesh and former Congress MP Nilesh, are also likely to join the BJP.
Former Kolhapur MP and NCP leader Dhananjay Mahadik is also likely to jump ship to the BJP. Mr. Mahadik, whose cousin is a BJP MLA, lost the 2019 Lok Sabha polls to Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Mandlik, with the Congress and sections of the NCP allegedly campaigning against him because of his proximity with the BJP.
On Friday, Jaikumar Gore, Congress MLA from Man in western Maharashtra, submitted his resignation to Assembly speaker Haribhau Bagde, which was accepted. Mr. Gore is also likely to join the BJP on Sunday. His brother and bitter rival Shekhar has already joined the Shiv Sena. In 2014, the brothers contested the polls respectively from Congress and NCP. Congress MLA Siddharam Mhetre from Solapur district is also likely to switch to the BJP on Sunday.
The biggest defection could be of Padmasinha Patil, a founding member of the NCP and a close aide of party president Sharad Pawar, and his son, NCP MLA Ranajagjitsinha Patil from Osmanabad district.
Apart from these names, Satara MP Udayanraje Bhosle, State Council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar and MLA Baban Shinde from the NCP, and Congress leader Harshvardhan Patil are also said to be on their way to the BJP.
