Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse has alleged that former Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and party leader Girish Mahajan were behind denial of ticket to him in the state Assembly polls held last year. Khadse, while speaking to Marathi news channel ABP Majha on Wednesday, also said that some people wanted to end his political career.

"I am told by the BJP's state core committee members that Devendra Fadnavis and Girish Mahajan had opposed issuing ticket to me from Muktainagar Assembly seat in Jalgaon district. They even opposed BJP central committee's willingness to give ticket to me," Khadse said. "I was told about it by some core committee members on condition of anonymity," the former state minister claimed. Khadse resigned as revenue minister in 2016 in the then BJP-led government over allegations of impropriety in a land deal. He was at that time the senior-most minister in the Fadnavis-led Cabinet. He could never return to the Cabinet and was denied ticket by the BJP in the Assembly polls in October last year.