Maha election: BJP Dumps Eknath Khadse,His Daughter will Contest
NEW DELHI/ MUMBAI : The BJP has fielded the daughter of its senior Maharashtra leader Eknath Khadse from his Muktainagar constituency as it released its fourth list of candidates for the state assembly polls.
The decision to field Rohini Khadse indicates that the party has succeeded in placating her father, who is one of its senior leaders but has been sidelined following charges of irregularities when he was a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government. He had to resign as revenue minister in 2016.
Party sources said it was made clear to him that he would not be given ticket this time. For the saffron party, the Leva-Patil community holds much importance and Khadse has been the party’s point person for years in getting the group’s support. But with senior cabinet minister Girish Mahajan’s growing clout in north Maharashtra, Khadse seemed to be losing his stature in the saffron camp.
Sources said Khadse lost his prominence in the party due to his enmity with Fadnavis. When the BJP won the maximum number of seats in 2014, Khadse was eyeing the chief minister’s post given his seniority, legislative experience, and due to the fact that he is an OBC face.
The party instead chose Fadnavis, leading to animosity between the two. After Khadse’s name surfaced in a scam, the chief minister made him step down as revenue minister.
Dismissing rumours that he was warming up to the NCP in the state, Khadse on Thursday said: “I have not met or had any conversation with Sharad Pawar for a year now. I don’t know why he is spreading the false story of me joining NCP. I’ll remain a dedicated worker of the party.”
The BJP will field candidates from 164 seats along with smaller allies, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party has been granted 124.
Maharashtra BJP has released the fourth list of candidates for the upcoming assembly election and has dropped top party leaders Vinod Tawde, Prakash Mehta and Eknath Khadse.
With this, the final seat-sharing formula between BJP and Shiv Sena has also been finalised. BJP will be contesting on 150 seats while Shiv Sena will contest on 124 seats and other allies will get 14 seats.
In the fourth list of 7 candidates, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has nominated Eknath Khadse’s daughter Rohini Khadse from the Muktainagar seat while the former state minister has been dropped.
The decision to field Rohini Khadse indicates that the party has succeeded in placating her father, who is one of its senior most leaders in the state but has been sidelined following charges of irregularities when he was a minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government.
Maharashtra will go to the polls on October 21, and the votes will be counted three days later. As many as 288 seats are up for grabs in the electoral contest, which will also have the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine competing for power.
Addressing a press conference after the announcement of the fourth list, Devendra Fadnavis said that while his party may have had differences with the Shiv Sena on certain issues, they are bound by the “common thread” of Hindutva.
The Shiv Sena chief downplayed the gruelling – sometimes bitter – seat-sharing negotiations taken up with the BJP in the days past. “It doesn’t matter who is the younger or older brother. What matters is the relationship between brothers,” Mr Thackeray said, metaphorically speaking.
(With Inputs fro Mumbai Bureau).
