Devendra Fadnavis calls Eknath Khadse’s allegations against him ‘half truth’
Eknath Khadse, who was also denied an election ticket in the state assembly elections held last year, said he had nothing against the central or state BJP leadership but Devendra Fadnavis.
Former Maharashtra chief minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis termed Eknath Khadse’s resignation from the party on Wednesday unfortunate and on the latter blaming him for the move, Fadnavis held that he would speak at the right time.
Khadse, from Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra, was one of the prominent leaders of the BJP in the state. He has now decided to join the Sharad Pawar led- Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) on Friday. His daughter-in-law and MP Raksha Khadse will continue working for the BJP and there was no other party MLA or MP joining him, he said.
The 68-year-old leader, who was also denied an election ticket in the state assembly elections held last year, said he had nothing against the central or state BJP leadership but Fadnavis. He accused the former chief minister of fabricating false cases against him. “I am upset with former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who made the police fabricate false cases against me. One case of outraging the modesty of a woman was registered against me on the orders from Fadnavis who was then CM and home minister. Similarly, corruption cases in Bhosri land deal and cases by anti-corruption bureau were registered against me, though nothing came out of them,” Khadse said in Jalgaon.
He added that he sought reasons for the “punishment” from the party leadership and Fadnavis on various platforms but I never got a reply.
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Fadnavis, however, responded to the allegations levelled against him by saying Khadse was speaking half-truth and that he would comment on the issue at the “right time.” “It’s unfortunate that he resigned.He shouldn’t have resigned. As far as his allegation against me is concerned, he’s speaking half-truth. He could have complained against me to seniors. At this moment I won’t speak much on it but I’ll speak at the right time,” the former CM was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The apparent cold war between the two leaders began with the party leadership choosing Fadnavis for the chief ministerial post when Khadse was expecting it after the BJP’s win in the 2014 state assembly elections. A fuming Khadse was given revenue and a bouquet of portfolios, but he continued to be bitter about the “injustice meted out to him”.