Tatkare & Patel will contest 2029 polls on BJP tickets with 22 other NCP MLAs: Rohit

Pune: NCP (SP) MLA and Sharad Pawar's grandnephew Rohit Pawar on Wednesday said NCP working president Praful Patel and state chief Sunil Tatkare, along with 22 other MLAs of the party, would contest the 2029 polls on BJP tickets.Rohit made the claim a day after Tatkare met Sharad Pawar at the latter's residence in Mumbai. The meeting was held amid speculations that Patel and Tatkare were being sidelined in NCP, after their names were found to be omitted from the list of party's office-bearers sent to Election Commission of India.Tatkare said he went to meet his former party chief to enquire about the latter's health. The meeting led to speculations about reigniting the merger talks between the two NCP factions, but Rohit on Wednesday refuted it.The NCP (SP) MLA instead claimed that Patel and Tatkare would join BJP after engineering a split in NCP. "There is a clear plan that Patel and Tatkare will contest the 2029 elections on BJP tickets. They will take 22 MLAs of their party with them. The plan was originally to be executed just before 2029, but it looks like it will be done soon because of the changed circumstances," Rohit told reporters in Pune.Tatkare refuted Rohit's claim that he and Patel, along with 22 other MLAs, were planning to switch to BJP. "Rohit has lost his mental balance and therefore, he is making such baseless statements. In fact, Rohit tried to switch to BJP in the past. Therefore, he does not have a moral right to speak about us. We are committed to expanding NCP under the leadership of Sunetra Pawar and we will continue to work to strengthen Mahayuti," Tatkare said.The merger talks of NCP factions were in the final stage during the civic elections, but Ajit Pawar's death in a plane crash in Baramati on Jan 28 halted the parleys. Responding to a question on if merger was still possible, Rohit said, "Our stand is very clear that we will not go with BJP. If anybody supports our stand, we are ready to welcome them."Not just NCP leaders, Rohit said some MLAs from Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena would also switch over to BJP to contest the 2029 elections. "Overall, 40 MLAs (from NCP and Shiv Sena) are set to join BJP before the next elections," he said.In a recent interview to an electronic channel, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said his party would not induct anyone from NCP. Reacting to his statement, Rohit said, "The chief minister said many things in the past but did not follow all of them. Once these MLAs switchover, he might say they decided to join BJP on their own. BJP has laid a trap for certain MLAs."