Another key exit from BJP in Maharashtra: Former minister quits to join Ajit Pawar's NCP

BJP leader and former minister Rajkumar Badole joined Ajit Pawar-led NCP in Mumbai on Tuesday. After joining the NCP, Badole said, "In the last 2.5 years, the Mahayuti government has done a lot of good work in Maharashtra. The NCP will contest the elections in the Mahayuti alliance from the place where I contest the election. We feel that this government should come back to Maharashtra again."

Badole is a former MLA from the Arjuni-Morgaon constituency in Maharashtra's Gondia district. He served in the 13th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly and was also a cabinet minister for Social Justice and Special Assistance in Devendra Fadnavis's ministry. He held the Arjuni-Morgaon seat for two consecutive terms, being elected in both 2009 and 2014 on a BJP ticket. 

Earlier this month, former minister Harshvardhan Patil left the BJP and joined the NCP (Sharad Pawar faction). Patil, who previously represented the Indapur assembly seat in Pune, said his supporters wanted him to contest the upcoming assembly elections from the same seat. "People are more important than political parties in a democracy," he said during his induction.

The Indapur assembly seat falls under the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, represented by Pawar's daughter, Supriya Sule. After meeting Sharad Pawar in Mumbai, Patil said the NCP chief encouraged him to join the party and contest the assembly elections.