I quit BJP only because of Devendra Fadnavis, says Eknath Khadse

Quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party after remaining in political wilderness for over four years senior leader Eknath Khadse on Wednesday said he was leaving only because of Devendra FadnavisSet to join the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi partner Nationalist Congress Party NCP on Friday Khadse said that he was targeted by the then Chief Minister and current Leader of Opposition Fadnavis on trumped up charges which have still not been provenMy family and I have been humiliated for four years I had worked hard to build up the party in the state for 40 years and this is what I had to undergo Khadse told mediapersons shortly after resigning as a BJP primary memberMaking it clear that he had no grouse against the BJP central leadership Khadse said that except state President Chandrakant Patil no BJP leader has called me up so farForced to quit as minister in June 2016 following corruption charges when he was the de facto No 2 in the cabinet headed by Fadnavis he was denied a BJP ticket in the 2019 Assembly electionsKhadse pointed out that since then his quitting no party including Shiv Sena Nationalist Congress Party or Congress has ever demanded any investigations against me despite that he was humiliated for several years in the BJPSo many agencies probed me but nothing came out Then one lady levelled some molestation charges against me to which Fadnavis asked that a FIR should be lodged against me This was the lowlevel politics played against me Khadse saidAmong the tallest BJP leaders in the state with huge grassroots support Khadse 68 hails from Muktainagar Jalgaon and his daughterinlaw Raksha Nikhil Khadse has been elected twice as BJP Lok Sabha MP 20142019 from Raver parliamentary seatReputed as an efficient administrator and orator Khadse was groomed by the late Pramod Mahajan and Gopinath Munde and is now expected to deflect the Opposition Fadnavisled BJPs attacks on the MVA government headed by Chief Minister Uddhav ThackerayHaving once tutored Fadnavis in legislative politics Khadse was ironically bypassed by the central leadership when the party swept the 2014 legislative elections and chose Fadnavis to lead the governmentSince then they enjoyed an uneasy relationship which ultimately led to Fadnavis asking Khadse who represented the Muktainagar assembly seat from 1989 till 2019 to quit the cabinet in 2016State NCP President and Minister Jayant Patil announced that Khadse would join the party on Friday afternoon and along with him many other BJP activists and legislators are likely to follow suit in the coming daysWelcoming the development Shiv Sena leader Kishore Tiwari said Khadse is a very popular massbased OBC leader and his departure will prove costly for the BJP and FadnavisHe is among the few leaders who served as a minister in the Shiv SenaBJP government of 19951999 as Leader of Opposition from 20092014 and again as minister when the BJPSena regime took over in 2014 till his exit from the cabinet in mid2016 Tiwari pointed outHoping to mollify him after denying a poll ticket in 2019 the BJP fielded his daughter Rohini KhadseKhevalkar but she lost the polls after which his Khadses supporters charged Fadnavis with engineering her debacleKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest newsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever