I am loyal to Sharad Pawar: NCP MP Tatkare

A day after his meeting with Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil triggered speculations about him joining the ruling party, NCP MP Sunil Tatkare on Wednesday asserted his "unflinching" loyalty to party chief Sharad Pawar.

Tatkare called on Patil, also Revenue Minister in the state government, at his official residence here on Tuesday, the day three MLAs of the NCP resigned from the Assembly.

The trio and an MLA from the Congress joined the BJP on Wednesday morning.

In a video message, Tatkare said he met Patil and some other ministers over public works to be carried out in his Raigad constituency.

He said it was "wrong" to malign his image by spreading such rumours of crossover.

During his meeting with Patil, Tatkare discussed about construction of roads in his constituency on a hybrid annuity mode.

The NCP leader said he conveyed the demands of Kunbis from Dapoli in his constituency for a land for community purpose to Patil.

"I met Chandrakant Patil, Tourism Minister Jaykumar Rawal and also Minister of State Dada Bhuse (of Shiv Sena). I met four principal secretaries and secretaries too. I met these people in my bid to fulfil promises made to the people during Lok Sabha polls," Tatkare said.

"My unflinching loyalty is with Pawar Saheb only. It is wrong to malign my image by spreading rumours," he added.

He said the NCP will rise again like a proverbial phoenix bird under Pawar's watch in the Maharashtra Assembly polls, due in September-October this year.

In the latest body blow to the NCP, three MLAs of the party--Shivendrasinh Bhosale (Satara), Sandeep Naik (Airoli) and Vaibhav Pichad (Akole)--joined the BJP along with Congress lawmaker Kalidas Kolambkar.