In an interesting turn of events, an independent candidate backed by Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party extended his support to the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra. NCP-backed candidate MLA Shankarrao Gadakh met Uddhav Thackeray on Monday regarding this.
Shiv Sena posted a twitter message conveying the announcement of Shankarrao Gadakh’s support.
Shankarrao Gadakh is an MLA from Nevasa constituency of Ahmednagar district. he belongs to the Revolutionary Peasant Party. Shankarrao Gadakh’s father Yashwantrao was a former leader of NCP.
Previously, two independent MLAs Ashish Jaiswal and Narendra Bhondekar have also extended their support to the party of Uddhav Thackeray.
In the state elections, BJP bagged 105 seats while Shiv Sena could only secure a win on 56 seats. This has led to a competition between the two parties to garner the maximum number of candidates in their favor. Both parties are working on increasing its strength to command the major authority in the formation of the next government in Maharashtra.
On Sunday, Independent candidate MLA Rajendra Raut met Devendra Fadnavis to extend his support to the saffron party. Yuva Swabhiman Party MLA Ravi Rana and MLA Geeta Jain had also lent their support to the Bhartiya Janta Party.
It is expected that the BJP will come back again in the government with Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister.