NCP MLC, ex-MLA join BJP ahead of Maharashtra polls

Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLC Ramrao Wadkute and former party MLA Bappu Pathare joined the BJP on Tuesday, ahead of the next week's Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Wadkute, a prominent Dhangar (shepherd) community leader from Marathwada region, was appointed member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council in June 2014 from the governor's quota.

He submitted his resignation on Monday evening to Legislative Council Chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar who immediately accepted it.


Pathare is a former MLA from Pune.

Both Wadkute and Pathare were inducted into the BJP in Mumbai on Tuesday in the presence of the party's working president J P Nadda.

Wadkute, a native of Parbhani district in Marathwada, was earlier chairman of the Punyashlok Ahilyadevi Sheli-Mendhi Vikas Mahamandal (Goat and Sheep Rearing Development Corporation) before being appointed as the MLC.

Polling for all 288 Assembly seats in the state will be held on October 21 and counting of votes will take place on October 24.