Amid speculation of switch, BJP’s Harshvardhan Patil meets Sharad Pawar

Mumbai: BJP leader and former minister Harshvardhan Patil on Thursday met NCP(SP) founder Sharad Pawar at his Mumbai residence, fuelling the speculation that he may join the latter in the run-up to the Maharashtra Assembly elections.

Patil, who had left Congress and joined the BJP in September 2019, has been seeking nomination from the Indapur Assembly seat.

He was unsure about getting the nomination from the said seat as it is represented by BJP’s alliance partner NCP.

Patil, who was expecting that he would be nominated to Rajya Sabha or the State Council from the BJP quota, had met Pawar in August this year but kept his cards close to his chest.

Patil was unhappy over the BJP for not taking a firm stand on his candidature from the Indapur constituency.

Patil was initially reluctant but later worked for NCP national president and DCM Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar from the Baramati seat during the general elections. He had then insisted that his name be considered for the Assembly election from Indapur.

However, the BJP or NCP have not yet spelt out their positions reportedly forcing Patil to meet Pawar after he held a series of discussions with his supporters to decide a future course of action.

Patil’s supporters have displayed posters in Indapur, Bigwan and other villages urging him to join Sharad Pawar-led NCP SP while some of them have uploaded NCP SP’s poll symbol.

Patil’s daughter Ankitta Patil Thackeray, who is an ex-member of Pune Zilla Parishad, has also changed its WhatsApp status to a “man blowing turah” (a traditional trumpet) which is NCP-SP’s poll symbol.

On Thursday, Patil’s supporters said he will join the Pawar-led NCP faction on October 7 during a rally at Indapur in Pune district.

Recently, BJP minister Chandrakant Patil had said that if Harshvardhan Patil has made up his mind, the party cannot stop him.

IANS