Jankar aide joins NCP (SP), Pichad and son on their way

Mumbai: Veteran politician Madhukar Pichad of the BJP and his son, Vaibhav, are set to return to the NCP (SP), while prominent Marathwada politician Rajabhau Phad, a trusted aide of Rashtriya Samaj Party leader Mahadev Jankar, joined the NCP (SP) on Wednesday in the presence of Sharad Pawar.Pichad and his son were associated with the NCP for several decades. During the 2019 assembly election, they joined the BJP. Then, Vaibhav was defeated by NCP nominee Kiran Lamte. Since Lamte has joined Ajit Pawar's NCP, it was not possible for Pichad to contest the Akole seat, as now the seat has gone to the NCP. Though Pichad was non-committal, both he and his son are set to join the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) and contest from Akole.Phad, a powerful developer from Beed, was associated with agriculture minister Dhananjay Munde, a trusted aide of Ajit Pawar. Following the entry of Phad into the NCP (SP), political equations in Marathwada will change, since he had worked with Pankaja Munde for a long time.Inducting Phad into the party, Sharad Pawar launched a frontal attack against Ajit Pawar's NCP, saying they broke away from the NCP and joined the BJP for petty gains.Pawar said that all along Prime Minister Narendra Modi kept saying ‘abki bar 400 par' but after the Lok Sabha election, the NDA did not even reach 240 seats. "Those who won the elections in our name and formed the govt have abandoned us, but we will not rest until we change the govt. I will hold a massive public meeting in Parli," Sharad Pawar said.