BJP cornered those who helped it come to power, says Eknath Khadse

Eknath Khadse

Former BJP minister Eknath Khadse Tuesday took a swipe at the BJP, saying those who had helped the party gain power were now out in the cold while leaders such as Narayan Rane, who had abandoned other parties, were now close to the power centres. “In our party the situation now is such that, those who spent their lives in the party and helped it attain power are out while those like Narayan Rane who renounced their parties are close to the BJP,” said Khadse during the release of a book on the Emergency.

BJP vice-president Shyam Jaju was present at the function. Khadse said he was deliberately making the statement in front of Jaju. Khadse claimed that only a handful of people who had witnessed the Emergency were still in the BJP and the status of such people including him was only of observors. Khadse, who was once the official number two in the Fadnavis government, has been sulking ever since he was asked to step down from his ministerial position in June 2016 following accusations of impropriety in a Pune land deal.