Mumbai:

Congress MLA from Igatpuri, Hiraman Bhika Khoskar, has joined the Ajit Pawar led-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. Mr Khoskar and his supporters officially joined the NCP at Ajit Pawar’s residence in Mumbai on Monday.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and State NCP President Sunil Tatkare welcomed Khoskar into the party.

“Hiraman Bhika Khoskar joined the NCP with dozens of his supporters including former Zila Parishad member Sampatnana Sakale in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Maharashtra NCP President Sunil Tatkare in Pune,” said NCP’s statement.

इगतपुरीचे आमदार आणि आदिवासी समाजाचे नेते श्री. हिरामण खोसकर यांनी आज राष्ट्रवादीचे विकासाभिमुख विचार स्वीकारत माझ्या आणि प्रदेशाध्यक्ष खा. सुनील तटकरे यांच्या उपस्थितीत आपल्या प्रमुख सहकाऱ्यांसह राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस पक्षात प्रवेश केला. आमदार खोसकर यांचा पक्षप्रवेश म्हणजे… pic.twitter.com/iYO5e6oLcS

— Ajit Pawar (@AjitPawarSpeaks) October 14, 2024

The party further highlighted that it is the “second biggest” member joining the NCP and mentioned that veteran actor Sayaji Shinde also joined the party in Mumbai.

The party also reiterated that Mr Khoskar’s joining will be strengthening the party in Nashik and surrounding areas ahead of the Assembly elections.

“Khoskar enjoys much support in Nashik region particularly in the tribal community,” the statement added.

Announcing the new member in a post on X, the party highlighted multiple other members who joined the party who have been zilla parishad members and also former officials in various districts.

Sandeep Gopal Gulve, Sampatanana Sakale, former Zilla Parishad member Jarnadan Mama Mali, Former Zilla Parishad member Uday Jadhav, Vinayak Malekar, Jairam Dhande, Prashant Kadu, Pandumama Shinde, Dnyaneshwar Kadu, Sarpanch Jagan Kadam, Feroze Shaikh, Dilip Chaudhary, Tukaram Sahane, Ramesh Jadhav, Dashrath Bhagde, Sudam Bhor, Arun Gaikar, Shivaji Sirsat also joined the NCP.

“With the entry of Khoskar, the strength of the NCP party has increased,” said the post.

Maharashtra Assembly elections will be held in 288 constituencies. The Election Commission of India has not yet announced the dates for the election.

The upcoming Maharashtra election will see a contest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition — comprising the Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress and the Mahayuti Alliance — which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Mumbai:

Maharashtra Congress President Nana Patole said that the opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi will make an announcement on several constituencies for the Maharashtra Assembly elections before Dussehra and a discussion on more than 150 seats was held in a meeting on Wednesday. 

Mr Patole said, “We will soon finish this and will make announcements on several seats before Dussehra. A discussion on more than 150 seats has been done in today’s (Wednesday’s) meeting. We will decide based on merits. Soon there will be clarity on the seat discussion.”

Maharashtra Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi asserted that the MVA alliance will fight strongly.

“MVA will fight strongly. The seats could be less and more. People are being divided in the name of religion. We are asking for 12 seats,” he said.

The MVA had also held a meeting on Tuesday. After attending the meeting, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader Jitendra Awhad said that there is no enmity and a discussion was happening well.

“It was a long meeting and there is no enmity, discussion is happening well…Around 288 seats were discussed,” Awhad said.

Targeting Maharashtra Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis over his “Vote Jihad” remarks, Nana Patole said that the former should be ashamed.

“Devendra Fadnavis should be ashamed…He is the Home Minister of the state and holds a constitutional post…Devendra Fadnavis himself wants to do the same cheap politics that the BJP does by making such statements and fighting on the basis of religion during elections…Congress demands that Devendra Fadnavis should apologise to the people of the state,” Mr Patole said.

Meanwhile, Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Tuesday held a detailed discussion with party leaders and workers in Dadar, Mumbai.

Mr Shah also expressed certainty that a ‘Mahayuti’ (ruling coalition) government would be formed in Maharashtra.

Addressing party workers, Mr Shah remarked that the BJP does not seek power for the sake of ruling but to advance its ideology.

“The formation of a Mahayuti government in Maharashtra is inevitable. No one can stop Mahayuti from winning the elections in Maharashtra,” he added.

Earlier, Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray hit out at Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, alleging that since he became Chief Minister, many industrial projects from the state have gone to Gujarat.

He alleged that, in the past two years, Maharashtra failed to bag projects and industries and lost them to neighbouring Gujarat. Vedanta-Foxconn had inked a pact in September 2022 for a Rs 1.54 lakh crore semiconductor project in Ahmedabad.

Mr Thackeray also accused Union Home Minister Amit Shah of wanting to “finish” him and NCP leader Sharad Pawar.

The Maharashtra Assembly has 288 constituencies. The Election Commission of India has yet to announce the election dates.

The main contest will be between the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition, comprising the UBT Shiv Sena, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress, and the Mahayuti Alliance, which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).