Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) received another blow when its leader Bhaskar Jadhav joined Shiv Sena in the presence of party chief Uddhav Thackeray here.
"I am originally a Shiv Sainik," Jadhav, the NCP legislator from Guhagar, told reporters after resigning from the state assembly.
A former NCP state president and a Maharashtra legislator since 1992, Bhaskar was the face of NCP in Konkan region of Maharashtra.
He started his political career with the Sena but later switched over to the Sharad Pawar-led party.
Today, after leaving the NCP, he stated that he had left Shiv Sena but his heart was always with the party.
Ahead of the assembly elections, which are expected to be held later this year, several senior leaders from the opposition NCP and Congress have been joining the ruling BJP and Shiv Sena.
Jadhav tendered resignation to assembly speaker Haribhau Bagade earlier today.