The NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar, which is still smarting from the Lok Sabha poll debacle, was hit by desertions to the Sharad Pawar group of the party on Wednesday.

Those who jumped ship were influential leaders of Pimpri-Chinchwad in Pune district, Ajit’s fief.

The development is being seen as a major blow to Ajit because the party’s Pimpri-Chinchwad president, Ajit Gavhane, is among those who have quit. He has taken along with him several former corporators from the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, striking at the heart of the Maharashtra deputy chief minister’s stronghold in Pune.

All of them have joined the “parent” NCP in the presence of Sharad Pawar amid indications that the exodus from Ajit’s NCP is likely to continue as Assembly elections draw near.

The fact that many in the breakaway NCP faction are now veering towards Sharad Pawar does not come as a surprise after he steered the Maha Vikas Agadi (MVA) to an impressive score in the Lok Sabha polls.

Proving to be the weakest link in the ruling Mahayuti coalition, the Ajit Pawar-led NCP could only win one seat in the elections, drastically reducing his bargaining power in terms of seat distribution for the Assembly polls later this year.

A recent report in an RSS-linked Marathi weekly has said public sentiments turned sharply against the BJP following its alliance with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP that subsequently led to the saffron party’s poor performance in the Lok Sabha
polls in Maharashtra.

The weekly publication, Vivek, conducted a survey involving over 200 individuals from Mumbai, Konkan and western Maharashtra to analyse the reasons behind the BJP’s electoral setback in the crucial state, which sends the second highest number of MPs to the Lok Sabha at 48.

The report said BJP members and other individuals expressed disapproval of the party’s decision to join forces with the NCP, which became an ally in the Shiv Sena-BJP government in the state in July last year.

The BJP’s seat count in Maharashtra dropped drastically from 23 in 2019 to just nine in the recent Lok Sabha polls, with its ally Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde securing seven seats and the NCP led by Ajit managing to win in just one constituency.

In contrast, the Opposition MVA, comprising the Shiv Sena (UBT), NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), and the Congress, put up an impressive show and collectively won 30 out of the 48 seats.

The NCP (SP) on Wednesday cited the report to suggest that the BJP was sending a subtle message to Ajit to leave the ruling Mahayuti alliance.

Speaking to reporters here, NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto said the BJP, which is keen to win the Assembly elections in Maharashtra, realises that the tie-up with the Ajit-led party is going to hurt its prospects. “The fact of the matter is that the people of Maharashtra have voted largely in favour of the NCP (SP). The BJP is also trading cautiously because it wants to win the elections,” he said.