Stung by rebellions, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) are now looking at borrowed firepower. They have kept the announcement of their alliance and seat-sharing on hold in the hope that some Sena BJP rebels may flock over to their camp. These will be essentially disgruntled leaders who had been denied tickets in Sena BJP seat sharing. The BJP and the Shiv Sena have cemented the alliance but kept the candidates and seat-sharing numbers under wraps fearing rebellion. What earlier impacted the opposition can affect the ruling combination equally, they fear. "Plenty of ruling party candidates are in our touch," said Ajit Pawar, senior NCP leader. Pawar welcomed the Congress MLA Bharat Bhalke in the NCP fold. Bhalke was planning to join the BJP but he ended up joining the NCP on Monday. Ajit Pawar said that the BJP and the Sena have started the game of poaching the Opposition MLAs and potential candidates. "I wish to tell them, the poaching game might have been started by them, but the Opposition will end it. I have got a long list of people from the ruling parties that are eager to join us. More than Opposition, the ruling party is shaken and insecure," informed Pawar. NCP candidate from Kej Namita Mundada joined the BJP in presence of the BJP minister Pankaja Munde on Monday. Last week, Sharad Pawar had announced the five candidates from Beed, and Namita Mundada joined the ruling BJP on Monday, was one of them. Vijay Wadettiwar, Leader of Opposition and the Congress MLA also claimed that many Sena leaders are in touch with him. "In Vidarbha, the majority of MLAs are from the BJP. These sitting MLAs will be repeated which will impact Sena leaders who were nurturing their political ambitions for the last five years. The moment the list of BJP candidates is declared, we will have the final list of potential candidates. We are now in a wait and watch mode," Wadettiwar said. Borrowed Firepower The BJP and the Shiv Sena have cemented the alliance but kept the candidates and seat-sharing numbers under wraps fearing rebellion What earlier impacted the opposition can affect the ruling combination equally, they fear Congress and NCP have kept the announcement of their alliance and seat-sharing on hold in the hope that some Sena BJP rebels may flock over to their camp These will be essentially disgruntled leaders who had been denied tickets in Sena BJP seat sharing In Lok Sabha elections, the Congress had to poach Sena MLA Balu Dhanorkar and fielded him as Congress candidate for Chandarpur Lok Sabha Polls. Dhanorkar had defeated the BJP minister Hansraj Ajit. Dhanorkar is the sole Congress MP from Maharashtra now. "We will have the record of the number of MLAs from Vidarbha in the next Assembly. People are fed up with the jumla politics of the BJP. In 2014, they promised a separate state of Vidarbha, while in last five years they did not utter the single word over this issue," said Sachin Sawant, Congress spokesperson.

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