Igatpuri Cong MLA to join NCP with eyes on assembly polls

Nashik: Igatpuri Congress MLA, Hiraman Khoskar, will be joining NCP and would be fielded by the party in the same constituency in the ensuing state assembly polls, said top NCP sources on Saturday.
“Khoskar is in constant touch with the NCP’s top brass, including the party chief, Ajit Pawar. The MLA had met Pawar at least a couple of times in the last month.The details of the formal joining are being worked out,” they added.
The state NCP president, Sunil Tatkare, did not rule out the possibility of Khoskar’s joining NCP. “I would not like to comment much on the issue at this juncture. Khoskar may join our party,” Tatkare told TOI.
Khoskar, when asked, said, “I will make my stand clear within the next couple of days.”
He has been associated with undivided NCP for over two decades. In the 2019 state polls, NCP had requested the Congress to give the Igatpuri seat to it as the NCP wanted to field Khoskar. But since Congress turned down the plea, the two parties reached a compromise that Khoskar would contest the Igatpuri seat on a Congress ticket. He joined Congress, and in the elections defeated Shiv Sena’s Nirmala Gavit by a margin of over 31,000 votes.