Ahead of Lok Sabha poll outcome, the NCP suffered a setback on Wednesday, as its former Minister and senior leader from Beed district in Marathwada region, Jaydutta Kshirsagar, joined the ruling Shiv Sena, after saying that he was feeling “suffocated’ in the Sharad Pawar-led party. 

After days of intense speculation about his possible entry to the Shiv Sena, Kshirsagar formally resigned from the primary membership of the NCP and also quit as an MLA from Beed, before joining the Sena in the presence of its president Uddhav Thackeray, at the latter’s Bandra residence “Matoshri” in north-west Mumbai.  

Welcoming Kshirsagar into his party fold, Uddhav tied a red thread on the former’s hand symbolising ‘Shiv Bandhan’ and handing him a miniature party flag.

Uddhav said that with the entry of an experienced leader like Kshirsagar to his party, the Sena’s organisational base would be strengthened further in Marathwada in general and Beed in particular. 

Kshirsagar’s exit from the NCP should be seen in the context of the fact that he had been associated with the Sharad Pawar-led party, ever since it was founded 20 years ago on May 25, 1999. It was Pawar who had gone to the Beed residence of Kshirsagar to personally invite the latter from the Congress to his party.

Talking to media persons after joining the Shiv Sena, Kshirsagar said: “My decision to join the Shiv Sena has nothing to do with the exit poll projections. I had taken the decision to join the Shiv Sena a long ago.  I had also announced my open support to the Sena-BJP alliance candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. Having been associated with the NCP since the formation of the party, I contributed to its growth in my district”

“Beed district has given six MLAs to the NCP. Still, my supporters and I were feeling suffocated in the NCP. That’s why I have chosen to quit the NCP,” Kshirsagar said. 

Kshirsagar was an influential minister in the previous Congress-NCP government. He was the PWD minister and chairman of the State-run the Maharashtra State Road Development Corporation (MSRDC)  in the Ashok Chavan cabinet. In fact, he had courted a controversy by inviting Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachhan for the the inauguration of the second carriageway of Bandra-Worli Sea Link (BWSL) –known officially as the Rajiv Gandhi Sea Link on March 24, 2010.

Kshirsagar’s decision to invite Big-B without consulting the chief minister had not gone well with the Congress, which was the principal ruling party in the coalition government.   

Kshirsagar’s influence within the NCP eroded markedly, after the entry of late BJP leader’s estranged nephew Dhananjay Munde, also from Beed district, joined the NCP.  

Dhananjay, who formally joined the NCP after resigning as the BJP MLC on July 2, 2013, was re-elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council on September 2, 2013.

It may be recalled that Ajit Pawar had encouraged Dhananjay, a BJP MLC then, to rebel against his uncle Gopinath Munde in the run up to the December 2011 presidential poll in the Parli Municipal Council.