The Nationalist Congress Party’s preparations for early general polls faced a major blow on Friday when the party’s Member of Parliament from the Satara constituency Udayanraje Bhosale met senior BJP leader Gopinath Munde, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and RPI leader Ramdas Athawale. Meanwhile, senior NCP leader and home minister R.R. Patil met Mr Bhosale is an attempt to pacify him.
According to sources, Mr Bhosale has been unhappy with the party leadership for quite some time. It is believed that he doesn’t share a good relationship with deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who is currently enjoying a very strong position in the party.
Mr Bhosale first went to meet Mr Munde at his residence. After a detailed discussion, he met Mr Thackeray at his Matoshri residence at Bandra. The NCP leader then went to meet Mr Athawale at his Sanvidhaan bungalow, too. During the meetings with senior leaders of the saffron alliance, he expressed his desire to join Shiv Sena, sources said.
However, the saffron leaders are said to have convinced him to contest the coming Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate and then join the Sena. Soon after the meetings, Mr Patil went to meet Mr Bhosale and tried to calm him down.
Mr Bhosale, however, maintained that the meetings were not of a political nature. “It was a courtesy call and had nothing to do with politics,” he said.
Mr Bhosale has been in touch with the Sena leadership for the last 20 days. The NCP was well aware of the MP’s unhappiness with the party. Mr Bhosale had also not attended the Lok Sabha constituency-wise meeting called by the party chief Sharad Pawar last month for election preparations.