NCP lawmaker Shivendra Singh Raje Bhosale resigns from party, likely to join BJP

In another jolt to Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) ahead of Maharashtra Assembly Elections, MLA Shivendra Singh Raje Bhosale has resigned from the party. According to reports, he is expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday, July 31, at Mumbai's Garware Club House. Speculations are rife that several other bigwigs of may jump the ship ahead of Assembly polls slated later this year. 

The resignation comes days after senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar asserted that the Bhosale is very much in the party. There were reports that Bhosale was feeling disgruntled as he did not submit form seekingthe party's candidature for the forthcoming Assembly polls.

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The NCP had earlier this month sought forms from the party's ticket aspiring candidates from across the state.    
Bhosale also did not turn up for the interviews of the NCP's aspiring poll candidates from the district, further raising doubts about him being on his way out of the party.    

Several top party leaders have resigned from NCP in the recent past. Recently, Mumbai President Sachin Ahir joined the Shiv Sena. Ahir and his wife Sangeeta was welcomed into the Sena by party chief Uddhav Thackeray and Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray at a function in the Thackeray residence 'Matoshree' in Bandra.

47-year-old Ahir, who was a minister in the previous Congress-NCP coalition government in the state, was associated with the Sharad Pawar-led party since its formation in 1999.

He represented Shivdi Assembly seat in Mumbai from 1999 to 2009 and was later elected from Worli, after delimitation of constituencies.  In 2014, he lost the Assembly election to Shiv Sena's Sunil Shinde.

Akole MLA Vaibhav Pichad, son of senior NCP leader and former state minister Madhukar Pichad, has also announced that he will join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra.