Congress’ Kalidas Kolambkar to join BJP

Mumbai: Senior Congress Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Kalidas Kolambkar is likely to quit his party and join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) soon. The MLA from Naigaon has given ample indication of his plans to join the BJP ahead of the Vidhan Sabha (VS) elections.

Word that Mr Kolambkar is planning to join the BJP started doing the rounds after the image of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was found on a banner put up at his office  on Tuesday. Bang opposite the Congress’ Tilak Bhavan office at Dadar, the banner had the image of Mr Fadnavis instead of his current party leaders.

According to political experts, Mr Kolambkar has made his intentions clear by putting the chief minister’s image on his banners. “I don’t want to remain in the Congress any more. Mr Fadnavis possesses strong will power for the development of the state,” he said.

The senior MLA, who is a close associate of former chief minister Narayan Rane, has been elected six times from the earlier Naigaon and now Wadala Assembly constituency. While Mr Rane formed his own party, the Swabhimani Party, Mr Kolambkar decided to join the BJP. He is likely to get a BJP ticket from the Wadala constituency in the forthcoming Vidhan Sabha polls.

In the 2014 Assembly polls, Mr Kolambkar had a narrow escape by defeating a BJP candidate.