Mumbai, (Samajweekly) In the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections, political defectors have hit the jackpot in Maharashtra as the parties of both the MahaYuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi have rolled out the red carpet for them.
Seven such leaders, who either left their parties or made a ‘ghar wapsi’ (return), have succeeded in getting nominations for various Lok Sabha seats.
Archana Patil, a former BJP leader and the wife of party legislator Rana Jagjit Singh Patil, joined the NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and was nominated from the Dharashiv constituency against her estranged brother-in-law and Shiv Sena-UBT nominee Omraje Nimbalkar.
Three-term MP and former Shiv Sena deputy leader Shivajirao Adhalrao parted ways with the party and joined the NCP, which fielded him from the Shirur constituency against the NCP-SP nominee and sitting MP Amol Kolhe.
Adhalrao had represented Shirur in the 2004, 2009, and 2014 elections as the Shiv Sena (united) candidate but lost to Kolhe in the 2019 elections. Thereafter, he deserted Uddhav Thackeray and joined the Eknath Shinde camp.
Congress legislator from Umred, Raju Parwe left the party and joined the Shiv Sena. He was nominated from the Ramtek constituency where the Sena dropped the sitting MP Krupal Tumane, and will face Congress candidate Shyamkumar Barve.
BJP leader Karan Pawar left the party and joined the Shiv Sena-UBT. He was nominated from the Jalgaon constituency against BJP candidate Smita Wagh.
In Beed, Bajrang Sonawane deserted Ajit Pawar and joined the NCP-SP led by Sharad Pawar. He has been fielded from the Beed constituency against the BJP’s Pankaja Munde.
NCP legislator Nilesh Lanke from Parner constituency in Ahmednagar district made a ‘ghar wapsi’ to the NCP-SP, which nominated from the Ahmednagar constituency against BJP nominee Sujay Vikhe-Patil.
Two days ago, BJP leader Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil, who is the nephew of former Deputy Chief Minister Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, left the party and joined the NCP-SP. He has been nominated from the Madha constituency in Solapur against BJP nominee Ranjit Sinh Naik-Nimbalkar.
