Ahead of local elections, NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) party has got major set back as Thane city president Suhas Desai joined NCP led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar party. On Thursday morning, Desai formally joined the ruling collonation party at a brief function held at the NCP office in Thane.
This jolt is an major organisational setback for the Sharad Pawar-led faction in the crucial Thane-Palghar region as it came amid rural and urban civic polls in Maharashtra, which includes TMC elections.
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Maharashtra Deputy Cm welcomed Desai and his supporters into the party fold. PTI reported that senior NCP leader and former MP Anand Paranjpe, along with the party's Thane district president Najeeb Mulla, attended the event. NCP leaders called Desai's defection a "big jolt" to Sharad Pawar's faction and its legislator Jitendra Awhad, a former state minister. Desai was inducted opposite Awhad's bungalow.