6 Congress MLAs to join BJP

Mumbai: The mega exodus to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will continue on Monday, with six incumbent Congress MLAs joining the saffron party.

All six had already announced their intention to join the Amit Shah-led party. The six MLAs are D.S. Ahire (Sakri), Kashiram Pawara (Shirpur), Aslam Sheikh (Malad), Rahul Bondre (Chikali), Bharat Bhalke (Pandarpur), and Siddharam Mehtre (Akkalkot).

The six MLAs will be joining the party in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and state unit chief Chandrakant Patil at Garware Club. Moreover, they are likely to get tickets to contest the upcoming Vidhan Sabha polls.

According to BJP sources, top party leaders held an important meeting at New Delhi on Sunday to decide the candidates.

The BJP has already inducted former Congress MLA Jaykumar Gore, who had resigned from the party before joining the saffron party. Along with him, the party recently gave entry to three Nationalist Congress Party MLAs – Shivendraraje Bhosale, Sandeep Naik and Vaibhav Pichad.

Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has reportedly distributed AB forms to some of its probable candidates. According to sources, the names that have been announced so far pertain to those seats over which there is no tussle.

According to sources, Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray’s name has been finalised from Worli constituency. The posters announcing his candidature have gone viral.

Minister of state for home Deepak Kesarkar will contest from Sawantwadi, while Rajesh Kshirsagar will fight elections from Kolhapur city, Sena sources said.

In addition, Arjun Khotkar (Jalna), Sanjay Shirsat (Aurangabad West), Sanjay Ghadge (Kagal), Sangram Kupekar (Chandgad), Chandradeep Narke (Karveer), Dr Sujit Minchekar (Hatkanangale), Satyajeet Patil (Shahuwadi), Prakash Abitkar (Radhanagari) and Ulhas Patil (Shirul) have also been finalised as candidates.