Indapur, Oct 7 (PTI) Veteran politician Sharad Pawar on Monday hinted at more desertions from the BJP and the NCP led by his nephew Ajit Pawar ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls on a day BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil joined the Pawar senior camp.
Addressing a gathering in Indapur town, Pawar appealed to the people to send Patil to the state assembly, virtually declaring his candidature for the upcoming elections.
Pawar also indicated that former state legislative council chairman Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar, currently in the Ajit Pawar camp, may join the NCP (SP) on October 14.
“I received a phone call from someone asking me to come on October 14 just like I have visited Indapur. I asked where and for what purpose. I was told it is for the same purpose as in Indapur. I asked where to visit?…Phaltan….understood? So the next stop is Phaltan. After that most of the month is booked,” Pawar said.
Phaltan is the home ground of Nimbalkar who had represented the constituency in 1995 as an Independent and as an NCP (undivided) leader in 1999 and 2004.
Interestingly, Nimbalkar on Sunday said he regretted deserting Sharad Pawar and joining hands with Ajit Pawar in 2023. “I had done so (to join the Ajit Pawar camp) to ensure the safety of party workers which didn’t happen,” he had claimed.
A party hopper, Harshvardhan Patil quit the Congress to join BJP in 2019. His exit from the BJP is viewed as a setback to Deputy CM and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis.
Pawar praised Patil, a former state minister, for his “dedication to agricultural reforms and rural development”, highlighting the significant contributions made by Patil and his father, former Baramati MP Shankarrao Patil.
“We may have been in different parties, but when it came to the welfare of Maharashtra’s farmers, we always worked together. Harshvardhan has always been the first choice whenever new leadership was needed for agricultural reforms. This decision is not restricted to Indapur, this is also important for sugarcane farmers across Maharashtra and for the agriculture sector of the entire country,” Pawar said.
Notably, Patil became the second prominent leader from the BJP to join the NCP (SP) ahead of assembly polls, likely to be held in November.
Earlier, Raje Samarjeet Ghatge from Kolhapur’s Kagal tehsil, the BJP face in the sugar belt, had switched to the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP).
Ajit Pawar-led NCP was routed in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra, losing three out of the four seats it had contested amid the growing sympathy for Sharad Pawar who has been combing Maharashtra to strengthen the party organisation. PTI MR NSK
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