A Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar) legislator from Parner in Ahmednagar, Nilesh Lanke, has returned to party founder Sharad Pawar, who heads the rival faction. Lanke met Pawar and other senior leaders at the NCP-SP office in Pune and reiterated his loyalty to the octogenarian.

The defection came on the day the Supreme Court observed that the Ajit Pawar faction should not use Sharad Pawar`s name and picture in official matters and events. The nephew who broke away last summer from the uncle has been given the party`s original name and symbol. "I have always been with Pawar saheb and I have always followed his ideology," said Lanke, the first-ever from the ruling group to switch sides. When asked whether he had officially shifted, he said, "Ideology and party are the same."