NCP's Solapur MLA Dilip Sopal joins Shiv Sena

KOLHAPUR: The Nationalist Congress Party ( NCP ) suffered yet another jolt in western Maharashtra after its sitting MLA, Dilip Sopal, from Barshi in Solapur district, announced that he was joining the Shiv Sena . Sopal is considered to be a close confidante of former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.


Sopal announced his decision to his select supporters in Barshi on Monday morning.

He will submit his resignation as an MLA on Tuesday and join the Sena the next day in the presence of party chief Uddhav Thackeray.

A host of other political leaders are expected to ditch opposition parties Congress and NCP for the BJP or Sena ahead of the assembly elections.

NCP, which used to control Solapur district politics till few months back, has been at the receiving end ever since the Mohite-Patil family joined the BJP a few days before the Lok Sabha elections. Subsequently, the NCP and the Congress lost the prestigious Madha and Solapur LS seats respectively.

Sopal on Monday said he was joining the Sena at the insistence of his supporters. He had stayed away from NCP activities after the LS polls. However, NCP chief Sharad Pawar had announced a few days ago that Sopal would remain with the party.

Several other leaders from the opposition parties, including Akkalkot MLA Bramhadev Mane and Pandharpur MLA Bharat Bhelke (both Congress), are said to be joining the BJP in the next few days. NCP’s leader from Karmala, Rashmi Bagal, joined the Sena recently.

In Kolhapur, NCP’s LS candidate Dhananjay Mahadik is likely to join the BJP by the end of this month. Mahadik has already said he was seriously considering the BJP’s offer to join the party. Several NCP workers, including a sitting MLA from Kolhapur, are likely to join the BJP with Mahadik.