More Congress, NCP leaders to switch to BJP

Mumbai: Even as the Assembly election is less than three months away, the exodus of Opposition leaders to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not seem to end.

Latest reports suggest that Congress MLA Kalidas Kolambakar and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)  legislator Vaibhav Pichad are all set to join the saffron party.

Maharashtra Mahila Rashtravadi Congress Party president Chitra Wagh is also likely to join the party.

A senior BJP leader and Cabinet minister, requesting anonymity, said that all three leaders would be joining the BJP in next couple of days.

Sources said that the leaders will be welcomed in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Not just Mr Pichad but all NCP office bearers in the Akole Taluka — Mr Pichad represents Akole in the Assembly — will be joining the BJP.

Mr Pichad is the son of former state Cabinet minister Madhukar Pichad, who is the tribal face of the Sharad Pawar-led party in western Maharashtra.

Congress legislator Kalidas Kolambakar, once a close aide of Rajya Sabha MP Narayan Rane, will also be joining the party next week.   

A close aide of Mr Kolambakar said that he decided to join the party as Mr Fadnavis had paid attention to the issues of mill workers and policemen.

Mr Kolambakar has been a member of the Maharashtra Assembly for seven terms, representing Wadala constituency. Interestingly, he is an ex- Shiv Sainik, having been elected five times on a Sena ticket. Maharashtra will be going to the polls in October this year.