In a jolt to the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election, more than 20 leaders and office bearers of the NCP from Pimpri-Chinchwad joined the NCP (SP) led by Sharad Pawar.
Chief among those switching sides was NCP leader Ajit Gavhane, the party’s Pimpri-Chinchwad president who was being touted as a dynamic face of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP in the cash-rich township ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly election.
After the Baramati Assembly segment which Ajit Pawar has held continuously since 1991 for a record seven terms, the township of Pimpri-Chinchwad and the cash-rich Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has long been the nerve-centre of the Deputy CM’s politics.
Mr. Gavhane, who submitted his resignation to NCP State chief Sunil Tatkare on July 16, is now being projected as a possible candidate of the NCP (SP) from the Bhosari Assembly segment, currently held by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Mahesh Landge.
Earlier in the day, Mr. Gavhane along with more than 20 former corporators and office bearers of the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) joined the NCP (SP) in Sharad Pawar’s presence in Pune.
Yet, the move was neither surprising nor wholly unexpected as Mr. Gavhane, along with ex-Bhosari MLA Vilas Lande – another Ajit Pawar faction leader who is said to disgruntled with Ajit, had met with Mr. Sharad Pawar last month itself along with other PCMC leaders from the NCP.