JOIN USMaharashtra: Four Opposition MLAs resign
Much on expected lines, four MLAs of the Congress-NCP opposition front on Tuesday resigned from the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly.
While three of them who resigned are from NCP - Sandeep Naik (Airoli), Vaibhav Pichad (Akole) and Shivendra Raje Bhosale (Satara), from the Congress Kalidas Kolambkar (Naigaon-Wadala) put in his papers.
They met speaker Haribhau Bagade in the Vidhan Bhavan complex and formally resigned.
They are all set to join the BJP on Wednesday. Veteran NCP leader Ganesh Naik, once a close aide of NCP founder-president Sharad Pawar, is also expected to join NCP.
The Naik family has considerable clout in the Navi Mumbai satellite township and the Raigad district. Naik had earlier been with the Shiv Sena and had served as minister in the erstwhile Sena-BJP and Congress-NCP Democratic Front governments handling portfolios like environment and state excise. The Naiks will join with a host of NCP corporators of Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation.
Pichad is son of veteran NCP leader and tribal leader Madhukar Pichad. Bhosale has good political clout in Satara.
Kolambkar is close to former chief minister Narayan Rane, who is currently a BJP-sponsored Rajya Sabha member. He was earlier with Shiv Sena and resigned to join Congress after Rane.
All the four MLAs were in touch with Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil, his predecessor and union minister Raosaheb Patil-Danve and water resources minister Girish Mahajan.