Maharashtra: Namita Mundada leaves NCP, joins BJP

Namita Mundada, the NCP leader, who was given a ticket by the party for upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls, joined BJP on Monday. Mundada resigned from NCP after which she was inducted into the saffron party in Beed district in the presence of BJP's Lok Sabha member Pritam Munde and State Minister Pankaja Munde. Namita's mother-in-law, Vimal Mundada, was a former state minister from NCP.  NCP earlier this month had declared Mundada as NCP's candidate from Kaij Assembly constituency in Beed for upcoming polls scheduled to be held on October 21. Mundada had lost to BJP's Sangeeta Thombre during the 2014 elections.

Read: Congress Announces 1st List Of Candidates Ahead Of Maharashtra Polls

Previous defections from NCP

Recently, the leader from Konkan region and former Maharashtra minister Bhaskar Jadhav had announced at the start of the September month that he will be leaving NCP and joining Shiv Sena on September 13. Jadhav was previously a member of Sena but later switched to NCP. Mass defections have been taking place in NCP with political leaders leaving the Sharad Pawar-led party to join Sena or BJP. NCP MLA Avadhut Tatkare was also rumoured of joining Sena along with his uncle. In a recent development, both Congress and NCP have now chosen to field new faces, especially youngsters, against those who left the party. NCP is also ready to field the people who left BJP to join them in the upcoming elections.

Read: Maharashtra Polls On October 21, BJP-Sena To Contest Together

BJP CEC to Finalise Candidates

On Sunday, the BJP Central Election Committee held a meeting to finalise the candidates for the upcoming assembly elections in Haryana and Maharashtra. Sources claimed that BJP's seat-sharing arrangement with Shiv Sena in Maharashtra will be announced in a couple of days. PM Narendra Modi, BJP chief Amit Shah and working president JP Nadda, pondered for several hours with other CEC members and leaders from the two states to finalise names of candidates. Both Maharashtra and Haryana are going to polls on October 21. The last day for filing of nomination is October 4.

(with PTI inputs)

Read: NCP And Congress Field New Faces Ahead Of Maharashtra Assembly Polls

Read: Aaditya Thackeray To Contest From Worli In The Maharashtra Elections