Niranjan Davkhare quits NCP, to join BJP

NEW DELHI: NCP leader Niranjan Davkhare today submitted his resignation as a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, quit the party, and said he was going to join the BJP.nnHe was quitting the Sharad Pawar-led party as he was fed up of politics within its local unit, the leader from Thane said.nnThe NCP claimed that Davkhare had been expelled from the party for six years on the directive of state unit chief Jayant Patil.nnDavkhare would be joining the BJP in Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s presence at the party office here tomorrow.nnThe development comes days after the BJP inducted former Congress minister Rajendra Gavit into its fold and fielded him for the May 28 Lok Sabha by-election in Palghar.nnNiranjan Davkhare’s father, late Vasant Davkhare, was a veteran NCP leader from Thane-Palghar region, and had served as Deputy Chairman of the Council for nearly 18 years.nnDavkhare, who represented the Konkan graduates’ constituency, met Council chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar in the morning and submitted his resignation.nn”I took this decision because I was fed up of internal politics of local NCP leaders. I have witnessed the formation and growth of NCP since its inception. I am saddened while taking the decision to quit. But I was forced to do so because of the internal politics directed against me at the local level,” he said.nnHe would be joining the BJP in chief minister Fadnavis’s presence tomorrow, he told PTI.nnAsked whether the BJP had assured him a ticket for the Legislative Council, Davkhare, whose Council term was to end on July 7, said it was yet to be decided.nnThe NCP termed Davkhare as “opportunist”. “He has been threatening to quit for quite some time….He became a leader in the NCP because of his father. Let’s see how he charts his own course in the BJP,” party spokesperson Nawab Malik said.nnSource: Press Trust of India