Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and two-time MLA Jaydutt Kshirsagar shared the dais with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis at an event in Beed district on Wednesday, sparking talks of imminent defection to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Mr. Kshirsagar, who was Public Works Department (PWD) minister in the erstwhile Congress-NCP government, has been unhappy with the NCP leadership for favouring his arch-rival in Beed district, Dhananjay Munde, nephew of late BJP leader Gopinath Munde.

Mr. Kshirsagar’s ire towards his party was manifest in the banners and posters put up by the Beed Municipal Council which hosted today’s event. The NCP leader’s picture featured prominently alongside those of Mr. Fadnavis and Beed Guardian Minister Pankaja Munde, while Mr. Munde’s photos were conspicuously absent.

Mr. Munde, who is leader of opposition in the Legislative Council is locked in a bitter struggle for supremacy in Beed with his estranged cousin, Pankaja Munde.

In his speech, Mr. Kshirsagar praised Mr. Fadnavis for the development works in Beed and the measures taken to provide relief to farmers.

In her address, Ms. Munde said, “My principle, in keeping with my late father’s [Gopinath Munde] values, is not to destroy or divide someone else’s house…in Beed, I find today that politics has stooped to a very low level.”

She further hit out at the NCP, saying there was a sea-change in the composition and behaviour of Mr. Pawar’s party today than it was in the past.

“The NCP has not sown any seeds of development in Beed…development schemes have merely languished on paper,” Ms. Munde said, hitting out at Dhananjay Munde.

BJP MLC Suresh Dhas, a former NCP leader from Beed, took potshots at Mr. Munde as well, remarking: “There are some people today [read Mr. Munde] who think they have become so big that they can directly criticize Prime Minister Modi.”

This is not the first time that Mr. Kshirsagar has openly expressed his affinity with the BJP. In December 2017, a courtesy call by Mr. Fadnavis and Ms. Munde to Mr. Kshirsagar’s home in Beed had set off speculation about the NCP leader joining BJP.

However, NCP State unit president Jayant Patil denied any possible defection. “One cannot jump to a conclusion about a person switching sides just because of courtesy calls, sharing stage at events and dinner meets. A politico becomes a defector only when he actually switches sides,” said Mr. Patil.

Mr. Fadnavis, who was on a day-long tour of Beed and Hingoli districts, said that the State government would ensure that drought relief work began much earlier.

“Earlier, relief work used to commence in June. This time, we will make sure that money is deposited into the farmers’ accounts much earlier,” the Chief Minister said, adding that more than adequate provisions would be made in fodder camps to ensure that livestock do not suffer.