Amid Maharashtra political crisis, NCP’s Satara MLA Makarand Jadhav-Patil has joined the newly-anointed deputy Chief Minster Ajit Pawar, less than a week after siding with party patriarch Sharad Pawar. Patil is the third NCP legislator to have switched sides following the split with the party, engineered by Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar. MLAs Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar and Dipak Chavan had crossed over before Jadhav-Patil. The NCP was split wide open on July 2 after eight MLAs took oath as ministers of the Shinde-Fadnavis government.