Mumbai: With the BJP reportedly wooing some opposition MLAs to its fold, the NCP on Wednesday attributed the said attempts to the ruling party’s doubts over its own Lok Sabha poll show and “insecurity” ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil told PTI that the BJP does not think the lead NDA took in 225 Assembly segments in the state during the just concluded Lok Sabha polls was “genuine” and hence, “poaching attempts” were being made. He asserted the NCP lawmakers have full faith in party president Sharad Pawar’s leadership and that none of them will switch over to the BJP. The Maharashtra Assembly polls are due in the second-half of this year. “Why are you trying to woo MLAs after securing lead in 225 Assembly segments (out of total 288) and if you think the figures are genuine? This shows you don’t trust the numbers you secured and therefore, the poaching attempts out of insecurity,” Patil alleged.
Patil, without mentioning any particular case, wondered if BJP has turned into ‘some club’, as lawmakers, following a variety of ideologies, were joining it. On Tuesday, three MLAs from West Bengal joined the BJP in New Delhi. Reports of some Congress and NCP MLAs possibly joining the BJP emerged after the NDA’s emphatic victory in the Lok Sabha polls. Speculation that state Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, whose son successfully contested the Lok Sabha poll on BJP’s ticket, may join the saffron outfit further fuelled the talk of opposition lawmakers switching loyalties to the ruling party.
