Disgruntled NCP leader shares dais with CM, sparks talk of defection

Disgruntled Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former public works department minister Jaydatta Kshirsagar shared the dais with CM Fadnavis on Wednesday at an event in Beed district. This is not the first time that Kshirsagar has openly expressed his affinity for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In December 2017, a courtesy call by Fadnavis and Pankaja Munde, minister for women and child development, on Kshirsagar at his home in Beed led to speculation about the latter joining the BJP. Kshirsagar had also visited ‘Varsha’, the official residence of the CM in September, to offer puja during Ganesh Chaturthi. All these incidents are pointers that Kshirsagar, feeling ‘ignored by the NCP’, is likely to join the BJP. His disgruntlement with the NCP leadership stems from the party's favouring of his arch-rival in Beed district, Dhananjay Munde, who is the leader of opposition in the legislative council and the nephew of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde. At an NCP review meeting on Lok Sabha constituencies, conducted by the party chief Sharad Pawar, Kshirsagar’s name was in the fray as a probable candidate from the Beed LS seat. However, as he was not present at the meeting, the name of junior NCP leader Amar Singh Pandit was put forward. Fadnavis was touring Beed on Wednesday and a picture of Kshirsagar was prominently featured alongside the CM and Munde in the banners. In his speech, Kshirsagar praised Fadnavis for the development work in Beed and the measures taken to provide relief to the farmers.