Maharashtra: Left-orientied PWP supports BJP

Maharashtra CM Devendra Fadnavis. (PTI Photo)

In a bolt from the blue, the Left-wing Peasants & Workers Party (PWP) has given support to the BJP and Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

The PWP, which in 2014, had three MLAs, now has been reduced to one.

The lone MLA, Shyamsunder Shinde, who has won from Loha in Nanded district, has met Fadnavis and extended his support. Shinde is a former IAS officer.

Incidentally, Shinde is the brother-in-law of Prataprao Govindrao Chikhalikar, the BJP MP from Nanded, who had defeated the then state Congress President and former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

PWP is a Marxist party founded in 1947. Currently, it is headed by Jayant Patil, who hails from the Raigad district.