Mumbai, March 19 (IANS) The NCP Wednesday sacked a Maharashtra cabinet minister after his daughter joined the BJP and was given a ticket for the Nandurbar Lok Sabha constituency, party leaders said.
The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) requested Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to drop Medical Education Minister Vijaykumar Gavit from the cabinet Wednesday evening, NCP executive president Jitendra Awhad told IANS.
Accordingly, a recommendation to the effect was sent to Governor K. Sankaranarayanan and would be implemented, official sources said.
Gavit's daughter and medico Heena Gavit Wednesday joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in the presence of party chief Rajnath Singh and prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi.
She was rewarded with a ticket for the Nandurbar tribal constituency in north Maharashtra, where she will battle it out with nine-time Congress MP and Minister of State for Social Justice Manikrao Gavit.
Vijaykumar Gavit's sacking followed a warning issued March 17 by NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar.
"If Gavit gets his daughter to contest the Lok Sabha election from a communal party like BJP, I will write to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan to expel him from the ministry. He will also cease to be a member of the NCP," Pawar had said.
There is an apprehension that Gavit will also walk over to the BJP.
Party leaders said the move to sack him also sent a strong signal to potential defectors that they would not be spared however well placed they may be in the party or in the government.
Incidentally, the Gavits - Manikrao Gavit and Vijaykumar Gavit (not related to each other) - have been old political rivals in the tribal-dominated Nandurbar district bordering Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh.
In an attempt to capture the critical Congress stronghold, Vijaykumar Gavit's younger brother Sharad Gavit had contested on a Samajwadi Party ticket and lost to Manikrao Gavit in the 2009 elections.
Later, in the 2009 Maharashtra assembly polls, Sharad Gavit contested and won from the Navapur seat on a Samajwadi Party ticket.
The Indian team recently defeated England 3-0 in the three-match ODI series. Now Team India's eye
BJP continues to meet farmers on land law
New Delhi, Feb 26 (IANS) The BJP Thursday conveyed its willingness to consider suggestions from
China in support of anti-India Pak terrorists: Saved by vetoing for the second time in two days
For the second time in two days, China has saved a Pakistani terrorist from being declared a Glob
Sistema Shyam TeleServices forays into Home WiFi Segment
New Delhi, Feb 11 (IANS) Sistema Shyam TeleServices Limited (SSTL), which provides telecom serv
Researchers at Ben-Gurion University of Israel have created an electro-optical corona test kit th
BJP to gain in Maharashtra, Bihar; Trinamool in Bengal: Survey
New Delhi, March 28 (IANS) The BJP is likely to emerge as the single largest party in Maharasht
This time all over North India including Delhi NCR is getting record-breaking heat. The mercury h
Congress to protest for farmers in Maharashtra
Mumbai, Jan 20 (IANS) Three months after it was routed in the Maharashtra assembly polls, the C
Rise in women entering Lok Sabha
New Delhi, March 21 (IANS) There has been a steady rise in the number of women entering the Lok
Is Putin's statement on the Taliban a setback for India?
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said it is possible to remove the Taliban from the list of t
