Former Maharashtra Prime Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis called Eknath Khadse’s resignation from the party on Wednesday unfortunate and, blaming him for the move, Fadnavis maintained that he would speak at the right time.
Khadse, from the Jalgaon district of northern Maharashtra, was one of the prominent BJP leaders in the state. He has now decided to join the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) led by Sharad Pawar on Friday. His daughter-in-law and MP Raksha Khadse will continue to work for the BJP and there was no other MLA party or parliamentarian to join him, he said.
The 68-year-old leader, who was also denied a ballot in the state assembly elections last year, said he had nothing against the central or state leadership of the BJP except Fadnavis. He accused the former prime minister of fabricating false cases against him. “I am upset with former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who made the police invent false cases against me. A case of indignation over the modesty of a woman was registered against me by order of Fadnavis, who was then CM and Minister of the Interior. Similarly, the cases of corruption in the Bhosri land deal and the cases of the anti-corruption office were registered against me, although nothing came of them, ”said Khadse in Jalgaon.
He added that he looked for the reasons for the “punishment” from the party leadership and Fadnavis on various platforms, but never got an answer.
Read also | Maharashtra leader Eknath Khadse resigns: NCP gain, but BJP loss?
However, Fadnavis responded to the allegations made against him by saying that Khadse was telling a half-truth and that he would comment on the matter at the “right time”. “It is a pity that he resigned. I shouldn’t have. As for your accusation against me, you are telling the half truth. He could have complained about me to older people. At this time I will not speak much about it but I will speak at the right time, “said the former CM according to the ANI news agency.
The apparent cold war between the two leaders began when party leaders elected Fadnavis to the top ministerial post as Khadse awaited him after the BJP’s victory in the 2014 state assembly elections. An irate Khadse received income and a bouquet of portfolios, but continued to be bitter about the “injustice that was inflicted on him.”
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