Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: 'Khadse And Mahajan Together Can Lift Jalgaon,' Raksha Khadse Suggests Burying The Past

Union minister Raksha Khadse has said if her father-in-law Eknath Khadse, who has expressed his wish to return to BJP from NCP (SP), and Maharashtra minister Girish Mahajan bury the hatchet and work unitedly, it would help in the development of their native Jalgaon district.

Both Khadse and Mahajan hail from Jalgaon north Maharashtra. While Khadse had earlier represented Muktainagar constituency, Mahajan is a legislator from Jamner seat.

Eknath Khadse had joined the undivided Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in October 2023 after quitting the BJP. He had accused party leader Devendra Fadnavis, who is now the Deputy Chief Minister, of trying to destroy his life and political career. Khadse is also loggerheads with Mahajan.

Ahead of this year's Lok Sabha elections, Khadse expressed his wish to return to the BJP. But as the saffron party is yet to announce in this regard, the veteran leader recently warned that he would start campaigning for the Sharad Pawar-led party for the upcoming assembly polls if no decision about his re-induction is made.

Talking about the development, his daughter-in-law and Union Minister of State for Women and Child Development Raksha Khadse said, “Eknath Khadse will decide about his return to the BJP. I cannot comment on it. But it will be good for the progress of Jalgaon district if Eknath Khadse and Girish Mahajan come together. They can sit together and find a solution,” she said.

“Ahead of the Lok Sabha elections, Eknath Khadse helped me during my campaign. The central leadership of the BJP also spoke to him and he worked accordingly,” he said.

During Fadnavis' tenure as the chief minister, Khadse, a prominent OBC leader, had to step down as a minister in the wake of corruption charges. He was denied a ticket in the 2019 assembly elections. His daughter Rohini Khadse was given the ticket from Muktainagar in his place, but she lost to a Shiv Sena rebel candidate.