In yet another setback to the Raj Thackeray-led MNS, three of its former MlAs and staunch supporters of the party president, including Mumbai’s Pravin Darekar and Nashik’s Vasant Gete, on Tuesday joined the BJP, in a major development that is bound to help the ruling party in expanding its base in the state. Besides the three former MNS MlAs, a former Shiv Sena MlA -Kashinath Mengal who had been elected on a Sena ticket from Igatpuri in 2004 but later joined the MNS, also joined the BJP. Apart from Darekar and Gete, the third former MNS who joined the BJP was Ramesh Patil from Kalyan (rural).