BJP leader Archana Patil joins NCP in Maharashtra, gets LS ticket from Dharashiv

Mumbai, April 4 (IANS) The NCP on Thursday fielded Archana Patil from the Dharashiv Lok Sabha constituency in Maharashtra after she quit the BJP and joined the Aji Pawar-led party.  

Archana Patil will take on Shiv Sena (UBT) nominee Omraje Nimbalkar in Dhaashiv, which was until recently known as Osmanabad in the Marathwada region

Wife of BJP legislator Rana Jagjit Singh Patil, Archana was welcomed into the party by state NCP chief Sunil Tatkare, who said she will be the MahaYuti candidate from Dharashiv. 

In a show of unity, BJP leaders Basavraj Patil and Abhimanyu Pawar, along with Shiv Sena legislator Dyanraj Chougule, were present when Archana formally joined the NCP. 

The former President of Dharashiv Zilla Parishad, Archana and her husband parted ways with the NCP and joined the BJP in 2019. Incidentally, Rana Jagjit Singh Patil is the nephew of NCP nominee from Baramati Sunetra Pawar, the wife of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar. 

Incidentally, Rana Jagjit Singh was the NCP nominee who lost to Omraje Nimbalkar in the 2019 general elections from Dharashiv. 

Both are estranged brothers and their family rivalry is known, especially in the wake of the death Nimbalkar's father Pawanraje Nimbalkar, who is the brother of Rana Jagjit Singh's father and former minister Padmasinh Patil. 

After the split in the Shiv Sena last year, Nimbalkar remained with Uddhav Thackeray and continued to work in Dharashiv district.

Meanwhile, Tatkare said the NCP is still in talks with the BJP and Shiv Sena, especially since the party has not yet withdrawn its claim on the Satara and Nashik seats.

"The picture will be clear in a day or two," he added.