Ahead of the elections to the Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) in April, four corporators from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) resigned from the party on Monday.
The prominent among them was Suresh Kulkarni, three-time standing committee chairman, and a staunch loyalist of BJP leader Ganesh Naik. Mr. Kulkarni, who had shifted to the BJP from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) along with Mr. Naik, had given hints on quitting the party last week when he invited top Shiv Sena leaders to a programme which Mr. Naik was not part of.
The other three are Mr. Kulkarni’s wife Radha, Sangeeta Waske, and Mudrika Gavali. The four corporators from Turbhe submitted their resignations to NMMC Commissioner Annasaheb Misal and municipal secretary Chitra Baviskar. They had also met Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray last week.
“I want to stay close to the people of my ward who don’t want me to stay with the BJP. Majority of population are Muslims and Dalits and they want me but not the BJP, hence I chose to resign,” Mr. Kulkarni said, adding that he has not yet decided which party he will join.
The NCP had 52 members in the House and the support of 5 Independents, while the BJP had just 6 members. But before the last Assembly elections, Mr. Naik along with 55 NCP and Independent corporators joined the BJP. Two NCP corporators, Ashok Gawde and his daughter Sapna Gawde, stayed back in the party. Following this, the BJP took control of the NMMC.
“He resigned after Thane Guardian Minister Eknath Shinde had helped him get some of his works done,” Leader of Opposition from the Shiv Sena, Vijay Chaughule, said, hinting that Mr. Kulkarni is likely to join the Sena.