BJP makes inroads into Sharad Pawar faction, inducts this leader ahead of assembly elections

In a significant development ahead of the Maharashtra assembly elections, the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) has suffered a major setback as its senior leader Manikrao Sonwalkar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday. He officially joined the saffron party in the presence of Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule along with 5,000 workers. BJP leaders gave a rousing welcome and congratulated Sonwalkar on his entry into the party. Speaking on the occasion, Maharashtra BJP chief Bawankule said that 14.5 crore people know that the Maha Vikas Aghadi is trying to “incite controversy” among various communities as the assembly elections are approaching. “When the Congress government was formed, such incidents never happened because there was no dirty politics in the opposition. Whenever a government is formed against the Congress, be it the country or the state, they get ready to spoil the society. They work to harm the government. With the Maharashtra Assembly elections just a few months away, both the ruling NDA alliance and the opposition’s Maha Vikas Aghadi are actively preparing for the upcoming contest. According to reports, parties within both the alliances are engaged in several meetings to finalise the seat-sharing arrangement. On one hand, political manoeuvring continues within the NDA as seat-sharing talks progress, on the other hand, a crucial meeting is expected within the MVA to address the same issue. It is believed that the political atmosphere is likely to heat up further once a consensus is reached on the seat sharing.