Maharashtra NCP leader Ganesh Naik likely to join BJP on Sept 9

More than a month after former MLA Sandeep Naik formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, his father and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ganesh Naik

More than a month after former MLA Sandeep Naik formally joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP, his father and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ganesh Naik too is likely to join the party on September 9. Ganesh Naik was not available for comment.

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NCP corporators in Navi Mumbai have reportedly been asked to prepare for the change. An NCP corporator, on condition of anonymity, said, “We will meet the Konkan commissioner on September 9 to submit a letter, stating that we are changing our party from NCP to BJP..”

The Congress and NCP have finalised sharing of 224 of the 288 Assembly seats. They held a marathon meeting which was attended by senior leaders from both the Congress and NCP on Tuesday. Both the parties will now start the process of finalising candidates for these seats. “We are not discussing any formula. Instead we are having seat-wise discussion with a focus on winnability of candidates. After many rounds of discussions, we have come to an agreement on 224 seats,” said a senior Congress leader, requesting anonymity. “This has enabled both the parties to start finalising names of the candidates on all these seats,” said a senior leader from NCP.

As both the Congress and NCP are keen to form a mega alliance with small parties, their leaders will also start talks with representatives of alliance partners.

On the other hand, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, too, called the BJP’s core committee to discuss election details.