NCP (SP) Thane city chief Suhas Desai joins rival party led by deputy CM Ajit Pawar

Thane, Oct 2 (PTI) Suhas Desai, the Thane city president of the Opposition NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar), on Thursday crossed over to the rival Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

Desai, along with more than two dozen of his followers, formally joined the ruling coalition party at a brief function held at the NCP office in Thane in the morning.

His crossover, coming ahead of the rural and urban civic polls in Maharashtra, including in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC), is seen as a major organizational setback for the Sharad Pawar-led party in the crucial Thane-Palghar region.

The function was headlined by NCP president Ajit Pawar, who welcomed Desai and his supporters into the party fold. Also present at the occasion were senior NCP leader and former MP Anand Paranjpe and the party's Thane district president Najeeb Mulla.

Nationalist Congress Party leaders were quick to term the defection as a "big jolt" to the NCP (SP) and its prominent politician and local MLA Jitendra Awhad, a former state minister. The joining function was held right opposite Awhad's bungalow. PTI COR RSY