New Delhi: Former BJP leader Eknath Khadse, who quit the party in 2020 and joined the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, has asserted that his reinduction into his old party is a “closed option now” as he was “humiliated by Maharashtra BJP leaders”.
In an interview to ThePrint, Khadse, who is known as the rival of Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, also said that he would now campaign for the NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) in the upcoming state election as he has not left the membership of the party and because “I can’t suffer more humiliation”.
In April this year, prior to the Lok Sabha election, Khadse had announced plans to rejoin the BJP and even campaigned for his daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse, a BJP leader who was renominated for the third time from Raver Lok Sabha constituency, and won the poll. Raksha was later inducted into the Union Cabinet.
Khadse’s daughter Rohini is in the NCP and is the chief of the party’s women’s wing. She is believed to be an aspirant for a ticket from Muktainagar assembly seat in Jalgaon, which Khadse has represented six times for the BJP.
“How long will I wait? For five months, state BJP leaders humiliated me. My induction into the party did not happen despite the keenness of the party’s central leaders. How much humiliation will I suffer?” asked Khadse, who is currently a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council (MLC).
Earlier this year, the central BJP leadership had reached out to Khadse for his homecoming from the NCP-SP. Pawar had then reportedly been pressuring Khadse to fight against Raksha from Raver but Khadse chose to support his daughter-in-law and the BJP.
When asked who blocked his re-entry into the BJP, despite assurance from central leaders, Khadse said “everybody knows their names”.
“When I met (BJP president J.P.) Naddaji in Delhi, Vinod Tawde and Rakshatai were present. Naddaji offered me the party scarf for joining but after that, a few leaders from the Maharashtra BJP opposed my reinduction and so no official announcement was made. I have waited for five months,” he added.
When asked whether he was referring to Fadnavis and state minister Girish Mahajan as having blocked his entry, Khadse said: “Yes, Fadnavis and Mahajan stopped my ghar wapsi. I was not keen initially, but central BJP leaders had persuaded me to join the party again. But I can’t remain in limbo anymore.”
On 2 September, Khadse’s 72nd birthday, posters in his home constituency of Muktainagar had photos of him with Sharad Pawar and Rohini Khadse and other NCP-SP leaders, suggesting his allegiance to Pawar.
However, the BJP has maintained that Khadse is ideologically aligned with the party and, like the Lok Sabha polls, would support the BJP in the assembly election.
Defending his party’s stand on Khadse, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule told the media: “Khadse saheb is a true believer in BJP ideology. He worked for BJP candidate Rakshatai in the Lok Sabha poll. He is known to keep his promises and I am sure that he will work for the party in the upcoming state election.”
Speaking to ThePrint about Khadse’s meeting earlier this year with the central leadership, a BJP source said that “during the talks, Khadse suggested he would join the party in a grand manner in the presence of Nadda or (home minister) Amit Shah on whichever date was decided later”.
A senior BJP leader from the central team also said that it was decided that Eknath Khadse would be inducted into the party. “But Devendra Fadnavis was not keen for his ghar wapsi and even Girish Mahajan was opposed to his induction. That is why, despite the central leaders’ wishes, the rejoining did not happen,” the leader told ThePrint.
With no word from the BJP in five months, Khadse says “he has no patience left” and he would campaign for the Pawar-led NCP in the Maharashtra election.
“I am one of the founding members of the BJP and along with Gopinath Munde and Pramod Mahajan worked tirelessly for the party’s growth in Maharashtra. Today, if the BJP is in power in Maharashtra, it is due to our efforts. But my contribution was ignored when Fadnavis took over the state unit. Now, after a long wait, I am not keen to rejoin the BJP,” he said.
“I am an MLC member from the NCP. I gave several months to the BJP to clear its stand but now I will campaign for the NCP and ensure victory of the party’s Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance,” he said.
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Khadse-Mahajan rivalry
Mahajan, who is known as Fadnavis’ close aide, and Khadse hail from the same district of Jalgoan.
Competition between Mahajan and Khadse on who has supremacy in Jalgoan has been the main reason for bitterness between the two. Fadnavis, when he became Maharashtra BJP chief in 2013, chose Mahajan over Khadse in all matters.
Last week, Mahajan accused Khadse of being “instrumental in filing false cases against him in 2021 when the MVA was in power in Maharashtra”. Talking to reporters, he said: “It was (former state home minister) Anil Deshmukh who told me about the phone calls he had been receiving from Khadse to book me in cases of extortion”.
Attacking Khadse again Monday, Mahajan told the media that the “real problem with Khadse is that he wants to keep all posts for his family only”.
“He wants all posts to be shared with his family members. His daughter-in-law is a Union minister, but he intends to field his daughter in the assembly election from NCP-SP. If the opposition MVA forms the government, Khadse would want her to be made a minister. He has been a public representative for over 30 years and still wants more,” Mahajan said.
Khadse has termed Mahajan’s charges as baseless. “These allegation are baseless. How can I persuade the Jalgoan police to lodge false cases against Mahajan? He is making baseless allegations to settle political scores,” he told ThePrint.
Raksha Khadse said last week that “if Girish Mahajan and Eknath Khadse let go of their bitterness, it will help in the development of Jalgoan. While it is the BJP that has to take a decision on Khadse’s ghar wapsi, if he and Mahajan work unitedly, it will help the district. During the Lok Sabha election, central BJP leaders had talked to Khadseji and he worked according to their directive to aid me in my campaign.”
An old BJP hand
Khadse has been a veteran BJP leader whom the party needs now that the Maharashtra assembly election is round the corner and the BJP has to recover from its losses during the Lok Sabha election that saw it reduced to 9 seats from 23 in the state. Even the Congress’ performance was better than the BJP’s.
Of the eight Lok Sabha seats that Mahajan was in charge of, the MVA won six and many party leaders had reportedly complained about his performance.
Speaking to ThePrint, a BJP functionary said: “The idea behind rapprochement with Khadse was to use his influence in the Lok Sabha and assembly seats of north Maharashtra. He has been an old hand of the party and there are 36 assembly constituencies in the north. It was decided that the BJP will field Raksha in the Lok Sabha and Khadse will campaign for her and also for the party in the assembly election.”
“The party elevated Raksha in the Union Cabinet despite opposition from state leaders, highlighting the need to keep Khadse in check. Now, Khadse’s daughter-in-law is in the cabinet and if he campaigns for the NCP, it will embarrass the BJP at a time it is already facing a stiff challenge,” the functionary added.
A Maharashtra BJP leader, however, said “the party is desperate to win the state election and can’t afford to annoy Fadnavis because of Khadse. The central BJP will try to keep Khadse in check though Raksha but it looks like he wants to ensure the victory of his daughter on an NCP ticket.”
Khadse had entered active politics as a BJP worker in the 1980s and helped the party establish its base in north Maharashtra.
In 2014, he was a claimant to the CM’s post in the state when the BJP and undivided Shiv Sena formed a government after the assembly polls. As the leader of the opposition, Khadse was a key contender but the party picked Fadnavis as CM.
Khadse subsequently became number two in the state cabinet and was handed over several important portfolios but within two years, in 2016, he was made to resign after he landed in controversy over a land purchase deal. It was also said then that Fadnavis used the opportunity to sideline his rival.
In 2019, Khadse was denied a ticket from Muktainagar and the party instead fielded his daughter Rohini who lost the election to independent candidate Chandrakant Patil. Khadse had then alleged that “it was the work of Fadnavis, who destroyed his political career by framing him in a false case and also helped in the defeat of his daughter”. Khadse and Rohini subsequently joined the undivided NCP.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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