NCP leader Eknath Khadse attacks Devendra Fadnavis again over his daughter’s defeat in Maharashtra Assembly polls

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse, who recently quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has again hit out at former chief minister (CM) Devendra

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Eknath Khadse, who recently quit the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), has again hit out at former chief minister (CM) Devendra Fadnavis for his daughter Rohini’s defeat in the Assembly election last year. He also alleged that those who “betrayed” him had the backing of the party leadership at a higher level, as no action was taken against them.

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Khadse had on Friday, too, squarely blamed Fadnavis for his decision to quit the BJP and said that he has no grievances against any other state or central-level leaders of the party, which he had served for four decades.

On Sunday, while addressing his former Assembly constituency Muktainagar on the occasion of Dussehra, Khadse renewed his attack on his former colleague.

“I was denied candidature by the party leadership during the Assembly elections, and just to create a rift between me and my daughter, it was offered to her. She had never asked for any ticket. Later, party workers whom I had mentored were used to defeat my daughter Rohini. I had submitted videos and CDs as proof against the betrayers, but no action was taken against them. Not even a notice was sent out to them. This shows that they had the backing of party leadership. Fadnavis, who was the then CM and controlled the party affairs, was behind all this,” he said.

Khadse said that he had experienced “political exile” in the BJP and added that had he not quit the party, he, too, would have been sent to “political banishment” like many senior leaders at national level.

Meanwhile, Fadnavis has refused to comment on the allegations. Last week, when Khadse had hurled allegations at Fadnavis, the former CM said that the newly-inducted NCP leader was making him a villain and that he would speak at an appropriate time. Maharashtra BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said that Fadnavis had in the past replied to all the allegations made against him.

State leaders tried to end my political career: Pankaja Munde

BJP national secretary Pankaja Munde on Sunday said that a leader from her district Beed and some others from Maharashtra are conspiring to finish her politically.

“A corona-infected leader from [Beed] district and some infected leaders from the state are conspiring to make me the ‘Abhimanyu’ of politics, but they perhaps do not know that I have excelled the skill of exiting the chakravyuh,” Munde said while referring to the character from Mahabharat. She was addressing a virtual rally on the occasion of Dussehra from Bhagwangarh in Beed.

Munde said that like his father, late Gopinath Munde, she too, will hold a grand rally at Mumbai’s Shivaji Park.