In a development that would come as a big boost to the ruling party in north Maharashtra ahead of the Lok Sabha polls, senior NCP leader Eknath Khadse on Sunday formally confirmed that he would formally return to the ruling BJP in the next 15 days.
Talking to media persons, 71-year-old Khadse said: “I have already met BJP president J P Nadda and expressed my intention to join his party. I will join the BJP at a party function to be held in New Delhi in the next 15 days”.
Confirming Khadse’s impending return to his party, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said in Pune: “In consultation with the state party, the BJP’s central leadership will take a formal decision on Khadse’s formal return to our party. Contrary to speculation in the media, deputy chief minister and senior party leader Devendra Fadnavis never opposed Khadse’s return to the BJP”
Khadse, it may be recalled, had joined the then united NCP in the presence of party president Sharad Pawar on October 23, 2020, two days after he resigned from the primary membership of the BJP.
Khadse, who is currently an MLC of the NCP (Sharad Pawar), said: “I am very grateful to Sharad Pawar ji. He stood by me in difficult days of my political career. But, I have now taken a decision to return to the BJP”. Khadse, who had been associated with the BJP for more than 40 years before he quit and joined the NCP in October 2020, was elected to the State Assembly for six terms from 1989 till 2019, from his home town Muktainagar.
Khadse was a minister in the Sena-BJP government (1995-1999). Subsequently he became a Leader of Opposition in the State Assembly. He was a strong contender for the chief minister when the BJP came to power in the state in 2014. However, Devendra Fadnavis pipped him to the post.
Khadse was the number two in the Devendra Fadnavis-led BJP Cabinet. At one stage, he held 10 crucial portfolios with him.
However, Khadse was sidelined within the BJP after he resigned from his post as the State Revenue Minister on June 4, 2016 over irregularities in the purchase of a plot of land at Bhosari in Pune district. Later in May 2018, Maharashtra’s Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) had reportedly given a clean chit to Khadse in the alleged Pune land scam. He finally quit the BJP to join the NCP more than three and a half years ago.
Khadse belongs to the Leva-Patil community, which forms a part of the OBCs. A grassroots politician, he hails from Muktainagar in Jalgaon district.
Khadse is a respected leader from north Maharashtra comprising five districts --- Nashik, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Dhule and Nandurbar which collectively account for eight Lok Sabha seats.
The BJP has re-nominated Khadse’s daughter-in-law and sitting MP Raksha Nikhil Khadse as its candidate from Raver constituency.
