Poll pick and trick: BJP poaches winnable NCP and Congress leaders

BATTLE IS ON Ex-cong min joins BJP, NCP legislator may quit too

MUMBAI: In the election year, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is continuing with its tactic of taking in winnable candidates to expand its base by poaching Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders.

Former minister and NCP legislator from Beed Jaydutt Kshirsagar on Wednesday indicated he was on his way out to the BJP. A day earlier, a former minister of Congress from Raigad, Ravisheth Patil, joined the BJP.

Kshirsagar had organised a programme in his home district to inaugurate several flagship schemes, where the chief guests were chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and rural development minister Pankaja Munde. While there has been speculation about him quitting the NCP for some time, the event on Wednesday, where most NCP leaders were absent, was a clear indication of Kshirsagar’s plans.

The CM did the bhoomipujan of a new building meant for a 100bed hospital. Only two NCP MLCS from the region, Vikram Kale and Satish Chavan, were present at the function. The banners, too, had pictures of Fadnavis and Munde, instead of NCP chief Sharad Pawar or his nephew Ajit Pawar. Last year, Fadnavis had attended another function organised by Kshirsagar in Delhi for the Teli community, part of the other backward class.

Kshirsagar, however, denied that he was quitting the NCP to join the BJP. “Nothing should be read between the lines. This was a government function to inaugurate schemes, so the CM and rural