In Maharashtra, the Congress Party and its ally Nationalist Congress Party have suffered a major setback, with Congress leader and former minister Harshvardhan Patil resigning from the party. Apart from him, Nationalist Congress Party leader and former minister Ganesh Naik has also resigned. Both leaders can join the Bharatiya Janata Party.
According to the information received, Harshvardhan Tripathi may join BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday, besides Ganesh Naik with more than 50 MLAs can join Bharatiya Janata Party in Vashi, Navi Mumbai on Wednesday.
Assembly elections are due in Maharashtra this year and just before the elections many leaders of Congress and Nationalist Party are leaving their party and joining BJP or Shiv Sena. During the Lok Sabha elections, the Congress-NCP alliance in Maharashtra suffered a major defeat from the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. Out of 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state, BJP won 23 and Shiv Sena 18 seats while NCP could win only 4 and Congress only 1 seat.
The four parties contested alone during the 2014 assembly elections and out of 288 assembly seats in the state, BJP won the most 122, Shiv Sena 63, Congress 42 and Shiv Sena 41 seats.
Before the assembly elections in Maharashtra, many leaders of Congress and Nationalist Party are leaving their party and joining BJP or Shiv Sena.
