Sharad Pawar asked me to join his party, says BJP leader after meeting him

MUMBAI: Maharashtra BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil met NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Thursday, amid growing buzz that he is joining the Pawar-led party ahead of the state assembly elections.

Patil told PTI that he met Pawar at the latter’s Silver Oaks residence in south Mumbai.

“Pawar urged me to join his party and contest the assembly elections. He said he would get me elected," Patil said.

State BJP minister Chandrakant Patil told reporters that the former state minister will regret his decision to join the Pawar-led party.

Those realising that they will not be fielded again (by the BJP) for the assembly polls are quitting the party, he added.

“When we win the elections and he comes back to us to be readmitted in the party, our top leaders will decide whether to take him back or not,” Chandrakant Patil said.

Speculations have been rife that Harshvardhan Patil, a former MLA from Indapur assembly seat in Baramati Lok Sabha constituency, would switch sides, especially after NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said those who won the seat last time will get to retain the seat.

Patil, who has been elected as MLA four times from Indapur seat, is aspiring to contest from Indapur again. The seat is represented by BJP’s alliance partner, NCP, which is likely to field sitting MLA Dattatray Bharne again this time.

Patil served as minister of state for agriculture and marketing in the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance government during 1995-99. He won the 1995 assembly election as an independent candidate.

He was a minister during the Congress-NCP alliance government from 1999 to 2014. He joined the Congress in 2009 and was the minister for cooperation and parliamentary affairs.