Former Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Eknath Khadse on Friday joined the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in the presence of party president Sharad Pawar. Khadse, 68, who had quit the BJP on Wednesday, was inducted into the NCP at the party’s head office in Mumbai.
“I have struggled for my entire life. I have sacrificed my life for the BJP, but now I will work for NCP with full strength,” Khadse said as he joined Pawar’s party.
During his induction ceremony, Khadse said that he was advised by a few senior BJP leaders to join the NCP. “Not just my followers but some even BJP leaders advised me to join NCP. I had asked some senior BJP leaders if I should go to another party, they advised me to join NCP,” he said.
After his resignation, Khadse had accused former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of “trying to destroy his life and political career”. He had blamed Fadnavis for his decision to quit the party. “Fake cases were lodged against me that includes a molestation case and two cases by ACB (Anti-Corruption Bureau). Now, I will reveal who has taken how many plots,” the newly-inducted NCP member said. “I have never used a woman for politics. It is not in my nature,” he added.
Khadse made his exit from Fadnavis’ ministry in 2016 after resigning as revenue minister. He also stepped down from 11 other departments after facing corruption charges. Khadse was with the BJP for over four decades.
Taking a dig at Fadnavis’s 5am oath ceremony during the government formation tussle in Maharashtra in 2019, Khadse said, “Some are raising the issue of morality in my case. Where was this morality when the oath was taken at 5 in the morning to form the government?”
The NCP, along with the Shiv Sena and Congress, is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), a political coalition formed in 2019 after the assembly elections in Maharashtra.
