Abhijit Shivarkar, son of former Congress minister Balasaheb Shivarkar, and former Pune deputy mayor Dilip Barate joined the BJP ahead of the Pune Municipal Corporation polls. Union Minister Murlidhar Mohol stated their decision was to strengthen Prime Minister Modi's vision and Chief Minister Fadnavis's goals. This move follows recent defections from Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP) to the BJP, including the son of an NCP (SP) legislator.