INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
KOLHAPUR: A third NCP legislator from Maharashtra's Satara - Makarand Jadhav-Patil of Wai - joined newly-anointed deputy CM Ajit Pawar, less
than a week after being seen siding with party patriarch Sharad Pawar as the latter travelled to Karad and back in a bid to salvage whatever
remained of his borough following the split engineered by his nephew.MLAs Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar and Dipak Chavan had crossed over before
Jadhav-Patil did so last Friday
Hundreds of his supporters from Wai, which comprises three tehsils, followed their leader.The NCP was split wide open on July 2 after eight
MLAs took oath as ministers of the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government
Jadhav-Patil had attended the oath-taking ceremony, but the very next day, he welcomed Pawar to Satara and accompanied him on the Karad
trip.A purported video of the meeting between Ajit Pawar and Jadhav-Patil's supporters shows the latter setting two conditions for switching
loyalty - financial help to the debt-ridden Kisan Veer and Khandala sugar factories, and a cabinet berth for the Wai MLA
Sources said Ajit Pawar and Jadhav-Patil held a closed-door meeting after he formally switched sides.
