Former Congress MLA Mushtaq Antulay quit the party and joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)' Ajit Pawar faction in Mumbai ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Antulay was welcomed into the NCP in the presence of deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, the party's national working president and MP Praful Patel, and state president Sunil Tatkare.
Mushtaq Antulay, who joined the NCP, said, "There is a power to develop in Maharashtra in the form of Ajitdada and that is why I decided to join the NCP." Mushtaq Antulay also heaped praise on Sunil Tatkare. "I have been looking after Sunil Tatkare's work for many years. Sunil Tatkare is fulfilling the plans that Antulay Saheb had planned. People are seeing in Tatkare the same work ethic as Antulay Saheb. I am confident that Sunil Tatkare will win the Lok Sabha elections," he said.
Meanwhile, NCP state president Sunil Tatkare hit back at the critics, saying that many, including Mushtaq Antulay, are coming with their thoughts, which proves that Ajitdada's important decision has not deviated from secular thought at all. An atmosphere is being created that the minority community is unhappy with the Nationalist Congress Party. Tatkare, however, said the Party was working on the legacy of Shiv-Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar's thoughts.