Will join NCP (SP) with supporters, says BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil
Maharashtra BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil plans to join NCP-SP, aiming to contest the assembly elections from Indapur, following talks with Sharad Pawar.
Maharashtra Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) leader Harshvardhan Patil on Friday announced that he would be joining the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP-SP) along with his supporters, a day after he met party chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai.
Patil met Pawar at the latter’s Silver Oaks residence in south Mumbai on Thursday. Following the meeting, he claimed Pawar had urged him to join his party and contest the assembly elections.
Patil stated, “My supporters and I have a clear intention of running in the assembly election from Indapur. I had a lengthy meeting with deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who clarified that the BJP has left the Indapur seat to their ally Ajit Pawar. After consultation with my supporters, I decided to team up with Sharad Pawar.”
Patil stated, “Sharad Pawar contacted me on Thursday for a discussion at his Mumbai residence. We had an extended conversation in the presence of Supriya Sule and NCP SP State President Jayant Patil. Now Sharad Pawar will decide on our official entry to the party.”
The assembly elections in Maharashtra are likely to be held next month. Patil, who has been elected as MLA four times from Indapur seat, is aspiring to contest from Indapur again.
The seat is represented by the BJP’s alliance partner, NCP, which is likely to field sitting MLA Dattatray Bharne again this time.
Patil further added, “Though we were political rivals, both the Patil and Pawar families have maintained cordial relations. We respect each other despite our differences. In politics, no one is a permanent enemy.”
Commenting on the development, NCP MP Supriya Sule said, “We both families have had good relations for the last six decades. We took this decision after dialogue with some local and state-level leaders. Some of our local leaders came and met me and expressed unhappiness. It is not wrong not to have political ambition. We respect it.”
Patil served as minister of state for agriculture and marketing in the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government during 1995-99. He won the 1995 assembly election as an independent candidate. He was a minister during the Congress-NCP alliance government from 1999 to 2014. He joined the Congress in 2009 and was the minister of cooperation and parliamentary affairs.
-With agency inputs