Congress leader Ranjitsinh Naik- Nimbalkar Monday joined the BJP ahead of the next month's Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra, becoming the latest opposition figure to enter the saffron fold.
Naik-Nimbalkar, the Congress's Satara district president, joined the BJP in the presence of Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil and other leaders of the ruling party.
Naik-Nimbalkar is considered to enjoy following in two of the six Assembly segments, Maan and Phaltan, that are part of the Madha Lok Sabha constituency in Satara district in Western Maharashtra.
The BJP has not yet declared any candidate from the Madha seat, where the NCP has fielded Sanjay Shinde.
Recently, son of Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra Assembly Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil, Sujay, had switched loyalties to the BJP after quitting the Congress.
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Former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and sitting NCP MP from Madha Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil's son, Ranjitsinh, too, had joined the BJP last week.
Maharashtra NCP vice-president Bharti Pawar and Congress leader Pravin Chheda had followed suit in joining the saffron outfit.
Launching a veiled attack on the NCP leadership, Naik- Nimbalkar said his fight was with "those from Baramati", the bastion of the Pawars, who, he alleged, created roadblocks in the development of the region he comes from.
Praising the chief minister, Nimbalkar said, "On the other hand, Fadnavis never asked which party I represented."
Speaking on the occasion, Fadnavis hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the poor find connect with the PM.
Fadnavis suggested his government has given more funds to the Western Maharashtra region than the previous regime of the Congress-NCP combine (1999-2014).
"We will ensure injustice is not meted out to any region...the youth is getting attracted to the BJP...the country has a bright future," the chief minister added.
He exuded confidence that the BJP will win the Madha seat too.
Maharashtra has 48 Lok Sabha seats, the second highest after Uttar Pradesh (80), and all of them will go to the polls in four phases in April.
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