Harshvardhan Patil Quits BJP Days Before Maharashtra Polls, Says Will Join Sharad Pawar’s NCP

Pune: Maharashtra BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil on Friday announced that he would be joining the NCP (SP) along with his supporters, a day after he met party chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai.

Patil met Pawar at the latter’s Silver Oaks residence in south Mumbai on Thursday.

Following the meeting, he claimed Pawar had urged him to join his party and contest the assembly elections.

The assembly elections in Maharashtra are likely to be held next month.

Patil, who has been elected as MLA four times from Indapur seat, is aspiring to contest from Indapur again. The seat is represented by the BJP ’s alliance partner, NCP, which is likely to field sitting MLA Dattatray Bharne again this time.

Talking to reporters on Friday, Patil said, "I had a meeting with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis over my political stand. We had a detailed discussion for over two and a half hours. Since the Indapur seat is going to the sitting MLA from Mahayuti (Dattatraya Bharne of NCP), he (Fadnavis) assured me of another option. Though the option would have been feasible for me, it would not have been acceptable to my supporters and people from my constituency." The BJP leader said he held a meeting with his supporters and decided to join the NCP (SP) with them.

Patil served as minister of state for agriculture and marketing in the Shiv Sena- BJP alliance government during 1995-99. He won the 1995 assembly election as an independent candidate.

He was a minister during the Congress -NCP alliance government from 1999 to 2014. He joined the Congress in 2009 and was the minister of cooperation and parliamentary affairs. 

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