Rajabhai Phad, close to Pankaja Munde, has now joined the NCP.
Assembly elections in Maharashtra are still a long time away, but the process of party switching of leaders continues. Another leader has switched sides. The defection has shocked the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Pankaja Munde. Rajabhau Phad, a long-time confidant of Pankaja, left the BJP and joined the NCP (NCP-SP) on Wednesday in the presence of party leader Sharad Pawar.
After Rajabhau’s induction into the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP), party chief Sharad Pawar also launched an indirect attack on his NCP leaders who split and joined hands with the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde). He said Rajabhai Phad has been Sarpanch in Parli for the past 25 years and is also a former youth president of Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP). Now he is all set to play an important role in our party’s strategy to wrest the Parli seat from Pankaja Munde.
We will not sit quietly: Sharad Pawar
Former Chief Minister and senior leader Sharad Pawar said, “Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) kept on raising slogans of ‘crossing 400’, but after the (Lok Sabha) elections, he could not even reach 240 seats. People who won elections in our name and formed the government left us. But now we will not rest until we change the government here.
Rajabhai Phad also claimed that there was an atmosphere of political repression in Parli. He said, “Not a single worker has been released from false cases. Whenever a leader joins an opposition party, false cases are registered against him. A false case will be registered against me too, but people are now with Pawar Sahib.
Pankaja lost the Lok Sabha election bid.
He accused Maharashtra minister and NCP leader Dhananjay Munde of embezzling government funds for the development of Parli. NCP (SP) leader Bajrang Sonvane representing Beed Lok Sabha constituency also addressed the rally. Sonavane, who defeated Munde in the Lok Sabha elections held in April-May, highlighted the growing discontent in the Mahayuti alliance, particularly in Parli.
Lok Sabha MP Sonwane said, “We don’t need to wait for assembly elections. What Parli does and what happens when someone is insulted was seen in the Lok Sabha elections. Phad’s defection is being seen as a major blow to the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
