NCP claims to turn tables on BJP by welcoming back defectors

Malik claims the BJP is spreading ‘baseless rumors’ of some 12 NCP MLAs set to join them through its pro-BJP media

@vipulbv

Mumbai: The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is reportedly attempting to turn tables on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which after causing political turmoil by destabilizing the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, is eyeing Maharashtra.

Amid reports of the BJP attempting to crash the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)-led state government, by swindling a few Members Legislative Assembly (MLA), the NCP has claimed to be in process to decoupling a handful of public representatives of the saffron party itself.

According to NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik, few members of the BJP are ‘desperate’ to join the Sharad Pawar-led party. “However, we have put the decision [whether to accept the BJP MLAs back in the party] on hold. No decision in this regard has been taken so far,” said Malik.

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While several instances in the recent past have suggested a lack of coordination within the MVA government, all the three parties in the coalition have repeatedly sidelined it terming it as a minor issue. The MVA has continued to press that it would complete its full term, even as the BJP hopes to create an upset by winning over a few MLAs from the MVA alliance.

“The opposition is spreading rumors that 12 NCP MLAs will join the BJP. This is a false and pure rumor. In particular, few BJP MLAs want to join the NCP,” said Malik, while speaking to TheNews21. Malik, who governs the Minorities portfolio in the state said that “the BJP must take steps to keep its 105 MLA intact. Instead of our MLAs leaving, the MLAs (defectors) who joined the BJP before the state elections are eager to rejoin the NCP. However, no decision has been taken on this subject. A decision will be taken soon and it will be announced.”

He added that the current rumor-mongering would not be the first time that the BJP took the help of the pro-BJP media to spread rumors regarding NCP MLA’s want to quit party ranks. He insisted that the people of the state have realized the truth and no one trusts the BJP anymore.

Words uttered by Malik were a reiteration of the statements made by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in his marathon interview in the Shiv Sena-mouthpiece ‘Saamana’. Pawar had stated that while the MVA-led government is steady, the BJP must take care of it’s ‘stable’ to keep the numbers intact.

On previous accounts, the Devendra Fadnavis-led state BJP had tried to fracture the NCP with the help of Ajit Pawar. However, it failed miserably. Even after the humiliation, Fadnavis had announced that the MVA-led government would collapse on its own by October.