Still to recover from the Opposition MahaYuti’s poor performance in the recent Lok Sabha polls, the Ajit Pawar-led ruling NCP suffered another jolt on Wednesday, as its Pimpri unit chief Ajit Gavahane and three other leaders quit the party, ahead of their joining the rival NCP (Sharad Pawar) on July 20. 

Apart from Gavahane, three other leaders who quit the ruling NCP (AP) and announced their decision to join the rival Sharad Pawar-led NCP are  NCP’s Pimpri-Chinchwad Students’ Wing chief Yash Sane, former corporators Rahul Bhosale and Pankaj Bhalekar.

Gavahane, Rahul and Pankaj submitted their resignations to NCP state President Sunil Tatkare. Sane had sent in his papers to the NCP Student Wing President Prashant Kadam earlier this week.

The resignations by four NCP (AP) leaders come a year after Ajit Pawar rebelled against Sharad Pawar, brought about a dramatic split in the parent party and joined the BJP-led MahaYuti Government in the State.

Confirming his resignation from the Ajit Pawar-led party, Gavahane said: “I have quit the NCP. I have submitted my resignation to state party president Sunil Tatkare”

Declining to spell out as to which he was heading to, Gavahane  said: “You will know which party I am joining… I won’t reveal anything today”.

However, his close aides confirmed that he and other leaders would join the Sharad Pawar-led NCP on July 20.

The resignations by four NCP (Ajit Pawar) leaders should be seen in the light of the fact that the Pimpri-Chinchwad, a twin satellite city of Pune, has been the bastion of Ajit Pawar for the past three decades.     

Gavahane’s decision to quit the NCP (AP) stems from the fact that party president Ajit Pawar bluntly refused to field him as a party candidate from the Bhosari constituency in the impending Assembly polls on the ground that the Bhosari had been won twice by BJP’s Mahesh Landge.

Informed NCP (AP) sources said that   Gavahane had recently met Ajit Pawar who asked him: “Why should our party contest Bhosari seat? Because it is a BJP from where its candidate had won twice” 

Gavahane and Landge have been arch political rivals for several years. They have fought elections against each other in the party.

The reason for Gavahane’s move to join the NCP (SP) is that Sharad Pawar has reportedly assured him that he would field him as party candidate from Bhosari.   

Gavahane and three other NCP (AP) leaders are expected to join the NCP (SP) at a function to be held at Pimpri-Chinchwad on July 20 in the presence of party’s national chief Sharad Pawar.