BJP Faces Setback as Close Fadnavis Ally Samarjit Singh Ghatge Joins Sharad Pawar's NCP Ahead of Maharashtra Assembly Elections
Ghatge Poised to Contest from Kagal Assembly Seat; Sharad Pawar Criticizes Modi Government's Policies Amid Growing Political Tensions in Maharashtra.
BJP has suffered a setback before the assembly elections in Maharashtra. BJP leader Samarjit Singh Ghatge has joined Sharad Pawar-led NCP. Samarjit is said to be a close leader of Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis. Samarjit has joined NCP(SP) along with his supporters. During this, NCP (SP) state president Jayant Patil was also present with Sharad Pawar.
According to the information, Sharad Pawar can make Samarjit Ghatge his candidate for the Kagal assembly seat. Recently, Higher Medical Education Minister in Maharashtra State Government Hasan Mushrif has been winning elections from here from NCP for the last 25 years. Hasan Mushrif, who left Sharad Pawar, is with the Ajit Pawar faction. Samarjit couldn't get a ticket from this seat while being in BJP. That's why he left the party.
Sharad Pawar has talked about giving him candidature from the Kagal assembly seat. Apart from electing Samarjit as an MLA, Pawar also hinted at giving him a big responsibility, i.e. making him a minister if the government comes to power. In this program, Pawar criticised the Centre. Sharad Pawar said that the country which was number two in the world in wheat export ten years ago, today the same country has to import wheat from abroad. All this has happened due to the wrong policies of the Modi government.
In the year 2016, Samarjit Ghatge joined BJP. But in the 2019 elections, this seat went to the account of Shiv Sena. Therefore, Samarjit Ghatge contested the election as an independent. Ghatge was defeated by Hasan Mushrif. This year he was willing to contest the elections from BJP, but the NCP Ajit Pawar group is in the grand alliance. A few days ago, when Ajit Pawar came to Kagal, he announced Mushrif's candidature. Therefore, everyone's eyes were on Samarjit Ghatge's decision. After talking to the workers, Ghatge decided to join the NCP Sharad Pawar group.
The assembly elections are proposed in Maharashtra in November-December this year. All the parties are busy in preparations even before the announcement of the elections. The main contest will be between Mahavikas Aghadi and Mahayuti. NDA i.e. Mahayuti is in power in the state.