NCP (SP) leader Khadse meets Fadnavis in Mumbai, says no discussion on BJP re-entry

author-image
NewsDrum Desk
New Update

Mumbai, Feb 5 (PTI) Nationalist Congress Party (SP) leader Eknath Khadse on Wednesday said he met Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis regarding pending works in his home district and asserted there was no discussion on his re-entry into the BJP.

The meeting between the two leaders took place at 'Sagar', Fadnavis' current official bungalow in south Mumbai, on Tuesday night.

Speaking to reporters, Khadse maintained he is not quitting the Sharad Pawar-led party, a constituent of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), and insisted there was no political angle to his meeting with Fadnavis, a senior BJP leader.

"I am going to be in the NCP (SP). I did not discuss anything with Fadnavis regarding joining the BJP. The meeting with Fadnavis was related to pending works of a local cooperative cotton mill, construction of Muktabai Temple and an engineering college for minorities, among others (in his home district Jalgaon). I met him with prior appointment," said the former state minister.

Khadse, who was with the Bharatiya Janata Party for nearly four decades and served as a senior minister in the previous BJP-led government, quit the Fadnavis cabinet in 2016 over a controversial land purchase by his family in Pune district.

The 72-year-old politician from Jalgaon in north Maharashtra resigned from the BJP in 2020 and later joined the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Before the Lok Sabha elections last year, Khadse tried to return to the BJP fold, but it did not materialise. He then blamed Fadnavis, who became CM for a third time after the November 2024 assembly polls, for blocking his return to the saffron party.

His daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse is the BJP Lok Sabha MP from Raver in Jalgaon district and is currently the Union Minister of State for Youth Affairs and Sports. PTI ND KRK RSY