Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA), which had three MLAs in the outgoing Maharashtra Assembly, made headlines in Maharashtra when its MLA, Kshitij Thakur, stormed into a hotel where local BJP workers were holding a meeting with the party’s national secretary, Vinod Tawde on Tuesday. Thakur accused Tawde of distributing money to BJP workers.
Amid these allegations, BVA’s Dahanu candidate, Suresh Padvi, joined the ruling BJP and declared his support for BJP’s nominee, Vinod Medha, on the eve of the Maharashtra Assembly elections.
The Dahanu assembly constituency is one of the six constituencies in Palghar district.
Announcing his support for the BJP, Padvi said, “Instead of splitting votes, if a good candidate is elected, the development in the rural areas, which has been stalled for the last five years, will be expedited. That’s why I declared my support for Vinod Medha.”
“I discussed the matter with BJP’s district-level office-bearers and joined the party today,” he added.
In the 2019 elections, Vinod Nikole of the Communist Party of India defeated the sitting MLA and BJP candidate, Dhanare Paskal Janya, by just over 4,800 votes.
According to reports, Suresh Padvi was a BJP member before joining the BVA.
This time, the BJP has fielded Vinod Medha against Nikole, who is seeking re-election.
