Jayant Patil’s Back-To-Back Meetings Fuel Rumours Of NCP (SP) Realignment With NDA

Mumbai: Days after meeting Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, senior NCP (SP) leader Jayant Patil on Friday met Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, amid speculation over the Sharad Pawar-led party’s possible realignment with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA).

The back-to-back meetings with the BJP and Shiv Sena leaders have fuelled political buzz over whether the NCP (SP) was exploring closer ties with the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA). There are also reports that Jayant Patil is likely to be made state finance minister after NCP (SP) joins hands with the BJP. However, the party has dismissed reports of any imminent shift in its political stance.

Jayant Patil, after meeting Shinde, claimed that he met the deputy chief minister to seek his intervention in the disqualification of Urun-Islampur Municipal Council president Anandrao Malgunde and councillor Sunil Malgunde over an alleged encroachment case

Malgunde, who was elected municipal council president by a margin of 7,200 votes and had initiated several development works in the town, and his brother Sunil Malgunde were stripped of their respective posts citing an old encroachment case, Patil said in a statement.

Patil urged Shinde, who also holds the Urban Development portfolio, to review the decision to disqualify the two, adding that the action had deprived the people of Urun-Islampur the services of their elected representatives.

However, according to political sources, the Sharad Pawar-led party is planning entry into the NDA and Patil has been entrusted with the task to facilitate the move. Patil’s recent meetings with BJP general secretary Vinod Tawade, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde have fuelled speculation that the realignment is gathering pace.