BJP leaders approaching NCP, Cong after Assembly results: Oppn

Several BJP leaders in Maharashtra are ready to switch loyalty to the Congress or NCP in the aftermath of the results of Assembly elections in three Hindi heartland states, opposition leaders claimed Thursday.

The Congress dislodged the BJP from power in Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh in the recently held Assembly polls.

"The atmosphere in the country is changing after the BJP's defeat in three states. The BJP is not going to win the 2019 (Lok Sabha) polls," NCP chief spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

"In the last few days, several MPs and MLAs who had joined the BJP after quitting NCP or other parties (ahead of 2014 elections) are willing to join our party," Malik claimed.

Another NCP leader said the seat-sharing talks between the Sharad Pawar-led party and the Congress and others are yet to be concluded, and those ready to defect from the BJP might bag some such tickets.

"There are some seats where consensus has not been reached between the Congress and NCP. In case a suitable potential candidate crosses over to NCP from the BJP, we may field him/her from such a seat," the leader added.

There are at least eight Lok Sabha constituencies where talks are inconclusive, he said.

A Congress leader claimed that those who had defected to the BJP are now sensing that the coming elections would pose a tough challenge for the ruling party.

Many of these leaders, who are now willing to join opposition parties, are disgruntled as their ambitions have remained unfulfilled and their voice is not heard in the BJP, he said.

Maharashtra BJP spokesperson Keshav Upadhye dismissed the claim that some party leaders may be on their way out.

"Nobody is leaving the party after the poll results. The party has broadened its base in Maharashtra and elsewhere over the past four years," Upadhye said.

"Those who have joined the BJP have done so believing in our ideology," he added.

On December 7, Prashant Hiray and Apurva Hiray, a former Maharashtra minister and member of Legislative Council from Nashik, respectively, joined the NCP after bidding adieu to the saffron party.