Maharashtra Assembly Elections: In a setback to the Bharatiya Janata Party ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections, its Navi Mumbai BJP district president Sandeep Naik on Tuesday joined the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party. The development came after he was denied a ticket to contest the polls from Navi Mumbai's Belapur seat.
After tendering his resignation to state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule, he was welcomed into the NCP (SP) by state chief Jayant Patil at the Vashi’s Vishnudas Bhave auditorium. He is likely to contest from Belapur on an NCP (SP) ticket now.
Notably, Sandeep Naik's father is a veteran leader and will be contesting from the neighbouring Airoli assembly constituency in Navi Mumbai on a BJP ticket. According to sources, Sandeep Naik wanted to contest from the Belapur seat, but the saffron party did not give him a ticket and instead fielded incumbent MLA Manda Mhatre in his stead.
After his name did not appear in the BJP's first list of 99 candidates for Maharashtra elections, Naik, who was miffed by the decision, was offered the Belapur seat by Sharad Pawar's NCP. Despite BJP's efforts to persuade Naik to stay, he failed to reach an agreement with the the party and ended up joining the Opposition's camp.
ALSO READ| Maharashtra Assembly Elections: Nawab Malik A Big Challenge For NCP-BJP 'Strategic' Alliance
Sandeep Naik had won from the Airoli constituency as a candidate for the undivided NCP in 2009 and 2014. He had earlier declared that he would be contesting the Assembly elections from Belapur. Later in 2019, he switched to the BJP from the NCP and took a back seat in the Assembly polls that year.
As per BJP's first list of candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly elections 2024, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis will contest from Nagpur South West. In a surprising development, state BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, who was not expected to contest, will contest from Kamthi seat.
The Maharashtra Assembly elections to elect 288 MLAs will take place in a single phase on November 20. The results will be announced on November 23.