Raje Samarjeetsinh Ghatge, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader from Kolhapur and a close aide of Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis, on Friday said that he would be joining the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP) on September 3.

He wanted to contest on a BJP ticket from Kagal, which is currently held by Hasan Mushrif of the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. As the general assumption is that the parties in the ruling alliance will be allowed to hold the seats on which they have legislators, it was clear that Ghatge would have had to give up his ambition for Mushrif.