MUMBAI, Oct. 22 -- Days after chief minister Devendra Fadnavis instructed local BJP chieftains to induct influential leaders from other parties before the local body polls, four heavyweight leaders from different tehsils of Solapur are set to join the party. Three of these are from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP. In a counter-reaction, irked BJP workers took to the streets on Tuesday and had a sit-in outside the BJP office in Solapur city to oppose this inflow. The workers expressed their fears of injustice being done to them and the possibility of a backlash from traditional BJP voters. Fadnavis met the four leaders-former Congress MLA Dilip Mane, former NCP MLAs Yashwant Mane and Rajan Patil, and former NCP MLA Babandada Shinde's son Ranjitsinh Shinde-four days ago. The decision to take these cooperative-sector strongmen from Mohol, Madha and Solapur city into the BJP fold is expected to be formalised after Diwali. Their induction was reportedly engineered by Solapur's guardian minister Jaikumar Gore. Angered by this, sitting BJP MLA Subhash Deshmukh allegedly engineered the protests. "The workers are his supporters," said a BJP leader. "Deshmukh's position in the party will be in jeopardy if the party leadership supports Mane, a heavyweight in the cooperative sector. He is already facing anti-incumbency and may not get a ticket in the next assembly elections. He may not even have a say in ticket distribution in the local body polls. This is why he has been opposing Mane's induction." The protesting workers pointed out that the leaders being inducted were tainted and they had had confrontations with them in the past. Apart from their fear that the district unit would be hijacked, some workers raised questions about why people would vote for the BJP if such leaders were taken in. Protesting that Deshmukh was not taken into confidence about the move, the workers gheraoed the party's city chief Rohini Tadvalkar. Tadvalkar responded, saying that the final decision would be made after taking everybody into confidence. "The decision to induct heavyweight leaders was taken by the BJP leadership to strengthen its base in Solapur," she said. "The final decision will be taken by the CM, state unit chief Ravindra Chavan, guardian minister Jaikumar Gore and local MLA Subhash Deshmukh. Although party workers have been opposing the inductions, they have not opposed any specific leader. We have enough strength in the district, but the party leadership makes decisions on the basis of certain calculations. I can assure party workers that no injustice will be done to them." The move has, however, created fissures within the NCP. Agriculture minister Dattatreya Bharne, a close aide of Ajit Pawar, visited Solapur on Tuesday and is believed to have tried to convince the NCP leaders not to quit the party. "No one has left the party till today," he said after holding two separate meetings of Solapur city and district unit workers. "The party will clear whatever misunderstandings are there." However, Bharne also sent out a message to the leaders, saying the desertion would not have much impact on the NCP. When contacted, former NCP MLA Rajan Patil confirmed that he and his colleagues were quitting the NCP. "The party is facing indiscipline," he said. "It is giving no importance to loyalty." Local BJP chieftains from many parts of the state, meanwhile, have been strongly opposing attempts to induct leaders from other parties. MLA Seema Hire and Nashik BJP workers protested against Sudhakar Badgujar's entry into the BJP in June on account of his alleged links with Salim Kutta, a gangster from the Dawood Ibrahim gang. There was similar opposition in Ratnagiri's Dapoli to the induction of Vaibhav Khedekar, who was expelled from the MNS in August. Khedekar's entry was postponed thrice but he was eventually given entry to the BJP in September. A BJP leader said that powerful leaders from other parties brought with them thousands of supporters, who brought in votes that earlier went to the opposition. "In the past too, such inductions have helped the party win elections," he said. "Since the BJP is going to have friendly fights with its allies in many local bodies, it does not hesitate to poach from Mahayuti partners either." When contacted, Subhash Deshmukh said that the sentiments of BJP workers were "extreme" and he had conveyed them to the CM and state unit chief. "We have no objection if leaders from other parties are inducted but the entry should not be to get election tickets," he said. "This will adversely affect the BJP's prospects in the polls."...