Dhananjay Munde, Believed To Have Sided With BJP, Returns To NCP Office

Hours after the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis took oath as chief minister of Maharashtra with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)’s Ajit Pawar, a meeting called by NCP chief Sharad Pawar revealed how many from the party had broken away.

Dhananjay Munde, a senior NCP leader who was believed to have defected along with Ajit Pawar, made a dramatic entry into the “headcount” meeting at the NCP headquarters in Mumbai, the YB Chavan centre.

The NCP said six MLAs, including Ajit Pawar, were now missing but expressed confidence they would all return. Two more had returned in the morning.

Five of those MLAs were being flown to Delhi, according to a passenger manifest. Some MLAs even went to the Mumbai airport to bring them around but returned without them.

The NCP has 54 MLAs in the 288-member Maharashtra assembly. Last night, Sharad Pawar had said the NCP and Congress would join hands with the Shiv Sena and form a government with the Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray as chief minister.

The BJP claims it has the support of all 54 MLAs.

However, Sharad Pawar said some MLAs had been tricked into attending the sudden early morning oath ceremony and paraded three of the MLAs at a press conference with Uddhav Thackeray.

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