Maharashtra Assembly Polls 2014: Another jolt for Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Pravin Darekar to join BJP

MUMBAI: Former Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MLA Pravin Darekar, who had resigned from the party on Wednesday, is all set to join the BJP in the next few days. Darekar, a close associate of MNS chief Raj Thackeray, resigned on Wednesday blaming Raj Thackeray’s leadership style for the party’s dismal performance. The MNS won just one seat, down from its 2009 tally of 13 seats, with all its legislators in 2009 losing the elections. Sources said that Darekar has already met top BJP leaders in the state and his joining the party would soon be made official in the next couple of days.

Darekar, who has been a longtime associate of Raj, quit as the party’s general secretary blaming Raj for the drubbing the party received. According to the former MLA, there has been confusion over the party’s policies and agenda and that is one of the reasons for the drubbing the party received.

Darekar in fact compared Raj to Congress VP Rahul Gandhi claiming that Congress paid the price for shielding the latter after each party defeat. While there is a growing number of voices who are upset at the functioning and arbitrary decisions taken by Raj, MNS leaders claim that Darekar has different reasons for quitting the party.

“It is ironical to see Darekar blaming Raj’s leadership style for quitting the party, he has been closely associated with Raj for more than two decades now, didn’t he realise it then? The actual reason for him quitting the MNS and joining the BJP could be related to the scam in the Mumbai District Central Co-operative Bank which he heads,” said a MNS leader.

Darekar is the chairman of the Mumbai District Central Co-operative Bank, which is facing serious allegations of financial fraud involving crores of rupees and is currently being investigated by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW).

The EOW has already arrested three people and has claimed that there are officials from the Bank too who are under scrutiny and who would be investigated and arrested soon.