Mumbai: In a major setback for the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the party’s senior leader and former minister Ganesh Naik joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and BJP state president Chandrakant Patil in Navi Mumbai on Wednesday evening.
Former MP Sanjeev Naik and 48 corporators of the Navi Municipal Corporation (NMMC) were also inducted into the saffron fold.
The induction of Ganesh Naik, considered an established leader in Navi Mumbai, into the saffron fold holds significance, as it would enable the BJP to get the control of NMMC.
“Under the leadership of Prime Minister Nare-ndra Modi, the country has got prestige in the world. The Centre has taken courageous decisions like abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir,” Mr Naik said after joining the BJP.
The veteran leader also praised chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ regime and said development has been done in the state in the last five years.
Mr Fadnavis said that as Ganesh Naik has joined the BJP, the party would not have to worry about the Navi Mumbai and his government would reso-lve the pending issues.
Barely 40 days ago, Ganesh Naik’s son Sandip Naik had joined the BJP, which lead to speculation that his father, too, will follow the suit.
Besides Sandip, NCP’s two other legislators Shivendrasinh Bhosale and Vaibhav Pichad had joined the BJP on the same day. Meanwhile, former Kolhapur MP Dhananjay Mahadik also switched to the ruling party recently.
Ganesh Naik had started his political career with the Shiv Sena. Later, he joined the NCP in 1999 — the year the party was established by the NCP chief Sharad Pawar — following his differences with the late Bal Thackeray.
Ganesh Naik, who represents the Agri community, had contested 2014 Assembly polls from Belapur but lost to BJP’s Manda Mhatre. Earlier, the Nationalist Congress Party had lost its Mumbai unit chief Sachin Ahir and MLAs Jaydutta Kshirsagar and Pandurang Barora to the Shiv Sena.
