Mumbai: Veteran BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who is sulking over the party's neglect, on Tuesday avoided meeting the former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis who was in his home town Jalgaon. Although Khadse has repeatedly refused news about leaving BJP to join NCP, his move clearly indicates that he is not happy with the present state of the party’s affairs.
Interestingly, Fadnavis was accompanied by Khadse’s rival and former water resources minister Girish Mahajan. Both were at the loggerheads in district politics.
Khadse last week attended the party's newly constituted meeting. The state president Chandrakant Patil urged him not to air his views against the party before the media. Other leaders also requested him not to quit the BJP.
However, Khadse is reportedly angry over the party's decision not to rehabilitate him after he resigned as revenue minister in 2016 on corruption charges. He was denied ticket in the Assembly election held last year and also later in the state council poll. Khadse was hurt after his daughter lost the assembly election in his home turf Muktainagar seat in Jalgaon district.
Khadse has recently attacked Fadnavis squarely blaming the BJP’s failure to retain power in the state. He had accused Fadnavis of having "direct or indirect" hand behind the allegations levelled against him.
Khadse had said that he will release a book to highlight the "conspiracy" that eventually saw his ouster as a minister from the Fadnavis-led government in the state in 2016. He added that such an atmosphere was created in the eyes of the party's senior leaders that he was made to look like a "corrupt" person.
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