Amid a high-voltage stir against gender bias at Shani Shingnapur temple in Ahmednagar district of Maharashtra, former Union minister Balasaheb Vikhe Patil today claimed he had visited the 'chauthara' (platform) at the temple along with his wife.

Vikhe Patil's comments came on a day when the Ahmednagar district administration said it had invited the protesters and the shrine authorities to discuss the centuries-old ban on female devotees entering the sacred platform.