Congress Leader Javed Shroff Joins Ajit Pawar's NCP Ahead Of Maharashtra Assembly Elections

The Election Commission has announced that Assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20.

The Election Commission has announced that Assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20.

Source : Ajit Pawar Twitter

Maharashtra Assembly Elections: Former Mumbai Congress General Secretary Javed Shroff on Wednesday joined NCP in the presence of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare.

In a big jolt to Congress party that will be contesting Maharashtra Assembly elections in alliance with INDIA blcoc, Congress leader Javed Shroff has switched to NCP lead by Ajit Pawar. 

On Tuesday, Congress MLA Hiraman Bhika Khoskar from Igatpuri Assembly constituency joined the Ajit Pawar led NCP. The news of Khotkar's switch did not come in as a shock as he was suspected of cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha polls. And there were speculations that he would leave Congress and join the rival section ahead of Maharashta Assembly elections. 

मुंबई काँग्रेसचे सरचिटणीस अल्हाज जावेद आर. श्रॉफ यांनी राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस पक्षात प्रवेश केला. त्यांचं मी मनापासून स्वागत करतो. पक्षाच्या विचारधारेवर चालून ते जनसेवेत मोठा हातभार लावतील, अशी खात्री बाळगतो. pic.twitter.com/9xloiuSjax

— Ajit Pawar (@AjitPawarSpeaks) October 15, 2024

The Election Commission has announced that Assembly polls in Maharashtra will be held in a single phase on November 20.

After the Haryana debacle, blamed partially on factional fighting, the Congress is bracing up to put its house in order and present a united face in both Maharashtra and Jharkhand where it seeks to win in alliance with its other INDIA bloc partners, the PTI reported.

Reportedly, the Congress leadership issued a stern warning to all its state leaders not to speak anything in public either against their party colleagues or any of the allies.

The warning has come from none other than Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and former party chief Rahul Gandhi, who are learnt to have told all its leaders in Maharashtra to refrain from making any such public statements, during an internal meeting, the PTI reported.

The seat-sharing talks between the three alliance partners of the INDIA bloc are on and reportedly, 80 per cent of the seats have been finalised, while deliberations are on for the remaining ones.

Congress on Tuesday appointed division-wise AICC senior observers for the Maharashtra Assembly polls with Ashok Gehlot and G Parameshwara to look after the Mumbai and Konkan region and Sachin Pilot and Uttam Kumar Reddy to oversee the Marathwada region. Bhupesh Baghel, Charanjit Singh Channi and Umang Singhar will look after the Vidarbha region (Amravati and Nagpur). TS Singhdeo and M B Patil will take care of western Maharashtra. Syed Naseer Hussain and D Anasuya Seethakka have been appointed senior observers for North Maharashtra, the party said. Mukul Wasnik and Avinash Pande have been appointed as Maharashtra state election senior coordinators, the report said.

The Congress-NCP(SP)-SS (UBT) alliance of MVA had won 31 out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections, while the Congress only won 5 out of 10 seats in Haryana. The Congress had won 44 seats in 2019 assembly polls in Maharashtra, but seven MLAs have resigned.