Ahead of Maharashtra civic polls, Congress MLC Pradnya Satav joins BJP

Congress Member of Legislative Council MLC Pradnya Satav joined the BJP in Mumbai on Thursday hours after submitting her resignation from the Upper House of the Maharashtra legislature reported news agency PTIShe joined the BJP in the presence of the ruling partys Maharashtra chief Ravindra Chavan and Revenue Minister Chandrashekhar Bawankule reported PTISatav the wife of late Rajiv Satav a Congressman and close confidant of Lok Sabha Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi hails from Hingoli district in the states Marathwada region She was first elected to the Maharashtra Legislative Council in 2021Her switch in the midst of local body elections is being seen as a setback to the CongressAfter her husbands death Satav served as vice president of the Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee She was renominated to the legislative council in July last year and her term was to end in 2030Earlier in the day Satav submitted her resignation as an MLC to the legislature secretariat after speaking to Legislative Council Chairman Ram Shinde sources had saidBesides Satav former MLA from Solapur district Dilip Mane also joined the BJPElections to the 29 municipal corporations in the state will take place on January 15 and votes will be counted the next dayExSena UBT corporator Tejasvee Ghosalkar joins BJPMeanwhile former Shiv Sena UBT corporator Tejasvee Ghosalkar joined the Bharatiya Janata Party in Mumbai on Monday ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation BMC pollsTejasvee Ghosalkar who had served as the Sena UBT womens wing head in the Dahisar assembly constituency in north Mumbai is the daughterinlaw of former MLA Vinod GhosalkarHer husband Abhishek Ghosalkar was shot dead in early 2024 during a Facebook Live allegedly by local resident Morris Noronha Abhishek was also a former corporator of the BMCShe joined the BJP on Monday in the presence of its Mumbai chief Ameet Satam and party MLC Pravin DarekarLater speaking to reporters Tejasvee Ghosalkar said she had worked diligently in the Shiv Sena UBT and would now work harder in her new partyI will accept any responsibility given to me by the party There are many things I wish to say but I cannot do so at the moment she saidShe also expressed disappointment over the slow pace of the investigation into the murder of her husbandThe CBI probe into my husbands murder is moving at a slow pace I hope it will be completed at the earliest she saidIn September last year the Bombay High Court handed over the probe into the murder to the Central Bureau of Investigation CBI underlining certain lapses and loose ends in the police probeTejasvee Ghosalkar was corporator of the then undivided Shiv Sena from 2017 to 2022 She had quit from her posts in the Uddhav Thackerayled Sena UBT citing personal reasonsWith inputs from PTI