Thane: The faction-ridden city unit of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) suffered a fresh jolt on Monday after three more senior corporators, Devram Bhoir his son Sanjay and wife Usha, quit the party to join the Shiv Sena.The trio's defection to the Sena, though significant, considering that Sanjay was the leader of opposition in the Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) came as no surprise as the family's disappointment with the goings-on in the NCP camp were an open secret ."There is a possibility that one of the members of the Bhoir family is assured of a key post and a sizeable share from the spoils of power by the Sena which is confident of emerging the single largest party in the 131-member civic body,'' said political observers.The Bhoir family wields considerable clout in the Dhokali area and was part of a faction led by NCP functionary Vasant Davkhare who is losing ground with most of his supporters and party corporators, including the Bhoirs, Yogesh Jankar, Bharat Chavan and Manohar Dumbre snapping ties with the NCP."Winning the polls in Thane city on an NCP ticket would be a Himalayan task and so one by one each of them is ditching the sinking ship. Most members are hostile towards party MLA Jitendra Awhad and his coterie of corporators and have little faith in NCP city president Anand Paranjpe who is close to Supriya Sule but may not pose a strong challenge to the Sena led by his former mentor Eknath Shinde,'' added observers.The Bhoir family, when asked about their reason for quitting the NCP said that they were distressed at the negative growth of the party in the city over the last few years. "Thane should have got the desired leverage in terms of support from the party in expanding its base in Thane city but unfortunately it is focused only towards Mumbra and Kalwa."A Sena activist claimed that the Bhoir couple have a stronghold and had defeated Sena candidates in the past elections with comfortable margins. "The new panel system required a strong presence in that area and the Bhoirs were a natural choice," he added.In the 2012 civic elections, the Bhoir family trounced the Sena candidates by a slender margin with Sanjay defeating Sainath Deu Patil by 862 votes and wife Usha routing Lina Patil by around 900 votes. Meanwhile, senior leader Devram Bhoir who was also the mayoral candidate in the last polls sadly lost to Sena's Lawrence D'souza in 2012 but managed to claim the seat in the 2016 bypolls where he managed to trounce Sena candidate Sunil Patil.The NCP, however, has dismissed any dent to the party prospects in the TMC polls due to the elections. "We are working towards forging an alliance with the Congress in the TMC house. Our prospects won't be affected by any defections in the party," said senior party leader Sunil Tatkare.

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