Former BJP Leader Harshvardhan Patil Joins NCP(SP), Banners Celebrate Him as 'Future Maha Minister'

Ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls, former Bharatiya Janata Party leader Harshvardhan Patil, his daughter Ankita Patil, and others joined the Nationalist Congress Party (SP) at a grand function in his hometown Indapur, here on Monday.

The Patils and their supporters were formally welcomed to the party by NCP(SP) President Sharad Pawar, Working President Supriya Sule, MPs, MLAs, and other bigwigs with posters near the venue heralding the new entrant as a 'future minister,' which is construed as a blow to the BJP.

Patil quit the BJP and declared his decision to join the Sharad Pawar-led party along with all office-bearers and supporters on the last Friday, giving a pre-election booster dose to the NCP(SP), a constituent of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) opposition alliance.

This is the wish of the people and the workers of Indapur…All the people of all castes and religions wanted to join the NCP(SP) and we are bowing to their wishes, it was said by Patil while discarding the BJP's 'Lotus' and holding aloft the NCP (SP)'s poll symbol of 'The Trumpeter

Patil was greeted inside the venue by NCP(SP) top brass while outside many banners and posters were seen proclaiming him as a 'future minister,' indicating that he is likely to contest as party candidate from Indapur against the sitting MLA of the ruling ally Nationalist Congress Party Dattatray V. Bharne.

By the way, four-time veteran Patil is elected from Indapur three times as an Independent candidate in 1995, 1999, and 2004 and once as a Congress nominee in 2009 but in 2019 quit the Congress, contested as a BJP ticket, and lost to Bharne by wafer-thin margin.

All of his followers, including his daughter Ankita Patil, a former Pune Zilla Parishad Member, have also caught on to the NCP(SP) flag for the upcoming state polls.

Uncertain whether she would get a nomination from Indapur as the seat was reportedly within the quota of Ajit Pawar-led NCP, Patil was agitated that the BJP did not stand its ground on the issue and thereafter met with Sharad Pawar to join NCP(SP).

Coming as it does, Patil's entry has caused some heartburn among a section of leaders in the NCP(SP) and party toppers are reaching out to mollify them and ward off any potential damage ahead of the polls.