In another setback to the NCP ahead of next month's polling, its state unit vice president Bharti Pawar on Friday joined the BJP, while Congress leader Pravin Chheda also returned to ruling party. The two leaders joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and other senior functionaries of the party in Mumbai. Mr Pawar had unsuccessfully contested the 2014 Lok Sabha polls from Dindori constituency against BJP's Harishchandra Chavan.
Mr Chheda, a three-term corporator in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), had quit the BJP to join the Congress seven years ago reportedly due to his differences with the then local MLA Prakash Mehta, currently a minister in the Maharashtra government. Speaking on the occasion, Mr Fadnavis claimed that BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade will continue to be in the party.