Setback for NCP as MLA Vaibhav Pichad says he will join BJP

Days after Sachin Ahir, Mumbai president of NCP, left the party and joined Shiv Sena, another leader of the Sharad Pawar’s party has announced that he will join the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra. Akole MLA Vaibhav Pichad, son of senior NCP leader and former state minister Madhukar Pichad, made this announcement on Saturday.

Vaibhav Pichad told PTI that he had organised a meeting of his followers at Akole in Ahmednagar district on Saturday to gauge their opinion. Most of his supporters wanted him to join the BJP, he said.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had assured him that he would get all help to solve the problems of his constituency, he said.

"Very soon I will formally join the Bharatiya Janata Party," he said.

A day after Sachin Ahir announced in Mumbai that he was joining the Shiv Sena, NCP's state women wing chief Chitra Wagh announced on Friday that she was quitting the Sharad Pawar-led party. There was speculation that she may join the BJP.

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.