BJP trashes rumours of MLAs jumping ship, advises NCP to focus on solving internal rifts

Trashing the possibility of some BJP MLAs joining NCP, legislator Ashish Shelar on Thursday alleged that the Sharad Pawar-led party was spreading rumours. According to him, this was an attempt by NCP to distract attention from disagreement among its party leaders. Taking a jibe at NCP, Shelar observed that it should first facilitate a conversation between Maharashtra Water Resources Minister Jayant Patil and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar. He opined that the Sharad Pawar-led party should focus on saving the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. At the same time, the BJP MLA clarified that his party was neither interested in engineering defections from NCP nor seeking to topple the Uddhav Thackeray-led government. 

BJP MLA Ashish Shelar remarked, "The NCP's claim that some MLAs from BJP shall join the party will not bear fruit. NCP is spreading these rumours to divert attention from the disagreement within its party ranks. It will be good for the party even if Jayant Patil and Ajit Pawar hold a conversation. Do not worry about the MLAs from other parties. Please save your own government and party. BJP is neither interested in breaking anyone's family nor seeking to oust the government."

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MVA confident of Maharashtra government's stability

On Monday, Maharashtra Minister and NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik denied reports that 12 NCP MLAs are likely to join BJP by August-end. In fact, Malik claimed that the NCP MLAs who had joined BJP before the 2019 Assembly polls were eager to return to the party fold. Stressing that no decision had been taken on re-inducting these legislators, the NCP spokesperson assured that a call will be taken in this regard soon. 

Earlier in the day, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut asserted that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government would complete its tenure under the "guidance" of NCP chief Sharad Pawar. He refuted the notion of any disagreement in the Sena-NCP-Congress alliance in Maharashtra. Rubbishing any threat to the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, he revealed that it has the backing of 170 MLAs, which is more than a sufficient number over the majority mark in the Maharashtra Assembly. 

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