Following senior Congress leader and former Bihar Governor DY Patil joining NCP, many fence sitter leaders in Maharashtra are contemplating a switch over ahead of elections. It is noteworthy that the state witnessed nearly 50 defections in 2014 from the Congress-NCP camp to BJP after smelling defeat. A good number of the defectors also got elected.
It is still unclear whether the Sena and the BJP will join hands to fight Lok Sabha polls together. However, many leaders will be taken onboard considering local political compulsions.
It is believed that the BJP has engaged senior minister Chandrakant Patil on mission import especially in western Maharashtra which is a bastion of the Congress-NCP.
The BJP which never had a presence in western Maharashtra has deployed senior Minister Chandrakant Patil on mission import.
In the recent past, many a fence sitters actions made headlines. BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade from Pune, who is also an opponent of local strongman Girish Bapat met NCP President Sharad Pawar in Mumbai for which Chief Minister Fadnavis is believed to have reprimanded him.
Satara Lok Sabha MP Udayanraje Bhosale is known for being unpredictable. He has expressed it time and again that he can do anything. In a recent feud between local MLAs and Bhosale, it was NCP's Pawar who met Udayanraje separately but, Udayanraje did not wait for Pawar to complete his meeting with the MLAs, who were expressing their displeasure.
In Kolhapur, Sanjay Mandlik, son of former Lok Sabha MP Sadashiv Mandlik has an open offer from the NCP. Mandlik was a Sena candidate during the 2014 elections and he lost to Dhananjay Mahadik of the NCP by a narrow margin. It is interesting to note that despite the Modi wave in 2014, the NCP won the Kolhapur Lok Sabha seat.
It is also believed that former NCP minister Bhaskar Jadhav is in touch with the BJP. Jadhav was formerly a Shiv Sainik and is now an NCP MLA.
Former Chief Minister Narayan Rane who is now a Rajya Sabha MP with BJP's support is also unpredictable and has expressed his dissatisfaction from time to time.
In Marathwada, Congress state unit President Ashok Chavan is willing to come back to the State Assembly and has announced that his wife Amita Chavan will contest for his Nanded Lok Sabha seat. It is likely that former NCP minister in the Union government Suryakanta Patil could be a BJP candidate contesting for the Nanded seat.
In Marathwada, former NCP Minister Jaydatta Kshirsagar also hit headlines when he met chief minister Devendra Fadnavis 3 months back. Kshirsagar who does not have cordial relations with his nephew Sandeep who could be NCP candidate for next assembly elections. Jaydatta Kshirsagar is feeling isolated in his party after his meeting with Fadnavis.
In Vidarbha, advocate Ashish Jaiswal who lost Ramtek assembly elections in 2014 is in touch with BJP. He had met Union Minister Nitin Gadkari but did not join BJP.
It is clear that these fence sitters are likely to make a final choice once election bugles are sounded in the next two months in the state.
It is still unclear whether the Sena and the BJP will join hands to fight Lok Sabha polls together. However, many leaders will be taken on board considering local political compulsions