The existing Assembly has witnessed 22 MLAs switching their political parties from which they had won the elections in 2014. Of them, 17 are sitting MLAs from the Opposition, who joined either the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or Shiv Sena. The defection started with former Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil joining the BJP before the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.

Only two legislators — one each from the BJP and Sena — have shifted to the Opposition. Katol’s former BJP MLA Ashish Deshmukh and Suresh Dhanorkar, former Sena MLA from Varora in Chandrapur, joined the Congress before the general elections. Mr. Dhanorkar is now the lone Congress MP from Maharashtra.

BJP’s Anil Gote from Dhule has rebelled against the party while Sena’s Harshvardhan Jadhav from Aurangabad’s Kannad Assembly seat contested the Lok Sabha elections against his party candidate. Sena’s Pratap Chikhlikar is now BJP’s MP from Nanded.

Among the opposition MLAs who switched the sides, the NCP has suffered the most with eight of its MLAs deserting the party.

Of them, five joined the Sena and rest the BJP. Seven Congress MLAs have quit the party, of whom three joined the Sena and BJP respectively. The lone Congress MLA, Nitesh Rane, is part of the Maharashtra Swabhiman Party, founded by his father Narayan Rane, which is now part of the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.

Vilas Tare of the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi and Sharad Sonawane of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have joined the Sena.

“Those who are afraid, those who cannot live without power, and those who have something to hide are joining the ruling alliance. We wish them well. But after the 2019 Assembly polls, they will find themselves either defeated or in the Opposition once again. The people will give them a fitting reply,” NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik said.

Social activist Anjali Damania said in olden days, people used to take sides depending on the ideology with which they agree.

“Now the only ideology that runs our country is power. The induction of people like Kripashanker Singh, Ganesh Naik and Narayan Rane, who have very serious charges of corruption against them, along with a long list of Congress and NCP leaders, clearly shows that the BJP is not at all interested in fighting corruption. Its only agenda is to destroy the Opposition, and this is very dangerous for democracy,” she said.