Veteran BJP leader Madhavrao Kinhalkar joins NCP (SP) ahead of Maharashtra polls

Mumbai: Former Maharashtra Minister of State for Home, and veteran BJP leader Madhavrao Kinhalkar joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) at a the massive Vijayi Sankalp Melava organised by the party in preparation for the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.

Kinhalkar earlier served as an MLA for Bhokar, which was until recently represented by former Maharashtra CM and Maharashtra Congress President Ashok Chavan before he switched over to the BJP before the Lok Sabha elections.

He is the second major leader from Nanded to join the NCP (SP) after former Union Minister Suryakanta Patil joined the party eleven years after parting ways from Pawar in June.

“There is a big difference between the BJP I joined and the BJP that I see today. They talk of nationalism, they talk of people’s issues, they talk of irrigation - but their actions promote rashtra-droh, not rashtra-hita,” said Kinhalkar at the rally, praising Sharad Pawar for giving him the opportunity to serve as the Home Minister under his government.

“Our government changed the face of Pimpri Chinchwad. This used to be a collection of small villages. We brought the IT sector here, we gave jobs to youth here. Today, the Opposition will not rest without giving a new direction to this state, to our country,” Sharad Pawar while addressing the rally.

“25 opposition leaders with corruption charges against them by the BJP have now joined the BJP. 23 out of those 25 have had all investigations against them halted. All the corrupt in Maharashtra have one slogan: better to join the BJP than going to prison,” said NCP (SP) State President Jayant Patil, lashing out at the ruling Mahayuti for making Maharashtra "the Number 1 state for corruption in the country."

“This is my accusation against the BJP: I myself have heard MPs in Parliament saying that we will get 400 MPs and change the Constitution. This is not a fake narrative. You have heard it, the media has heard it,” said NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule, urging voters to restore Maharashtra’s self-esteem and pride in the upcoming Vidhan Sabha elections.

The Bhokar assembly constituency is part of the Nanded Lok Sabha constituency. In the 2024 national elections, the MVA wrested back Nanded from the BJP, with the Congress’ Vasantrao Chavan defeating sitting MP Prataprao Chikhalikar with a margin of 60,000 votes.

Marathwada, the heart of agrarian distress and the center of the Maratha reservation movement and OBC discontentment, remains a critical battleground. Kinhalkar’s entry into the NCP (SP), after Suryakanta Patil’s joining of the party, is expected to strengthen the party’s prospects in the critical Nanded, Hingoli, Parbhani, and Beed districts.

The NCP (SP)’s Vijayi Sankalp Melava, held in the strategically important Pimpri-Chinchwad, once considered a bastion for the undivided NCP and managed by Ajit Pawar, comes after 28 members from Pune district including the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit’s city president and two former corporators, quit the NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction after its dismal performance in the Lok Sabha elections to join the NCP (SP).

Earlier in the day, Junnar MLA Atul Benke, who is a member of the NCP’s Ajit Pawar faction met Pawar at Shirur MP Amol Kolhe’s residence in Pune.

Benke, who told reporters after the meeting that “anything can happen in politics,” was the latest in a series of senior leaders - including Food, Civil Supplies, and Consumer Protection Minister Chhagan Bhujbal, who called on Pawar at his residence in Mumbai last week - to meet the NCP (SP) President in the lead up to the assembly elections.