Ahead of Maharashtra assembly elections, ex-BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil joins NCP (SP)

Harshvardhan Patil. Pic/Facebook (right) Sharad Pawar, chief, NCP-SP. File Pic

Former Maharashtra minister Harshvardhan Patil joined the opposition NCP (SP) on Monday, days after quitting the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), reported news agency PTI.

Patil was inducted into the NCP (SP) in the presence of party chief Sharad Pawar ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections.

The former MLA said his supporters wanted him to contest the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections from the Indapur seat (in Pune district), which he had earlier represented, reported PTI.

People are more important than political parties in a democracy, Harshvardhan Patil said, reported PTI.

Harshvardhan Patil, who is currently president of the National Federation of Cooperative Sugar Factories, quit the BJP last week.

Indapur comes under the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency.

Harshvardhan Patil met the NCP (SP) chief in Mumbai on October 3 and then said Pawar urged him to join his party and contest the assembly elections, likely to be held next month, reported PTI.

"He said he would get me elected," the former MLA had claimed, reported PTI.

Speculations were rife that Patil, a former MLA from the Indapur assembly seat, would switch sides, especially after NCP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said those who won the seat last time would get to retain the seat.

Harshvardhan Patil, who has been elected as MLA four times from Indapur, has been aspiring to contest the seat again.

The seat is represented by BJP's alliance partner NCP, which is likely to field sitting MLA Dattatray Bharne again this time.

Harshvardhan Patil served as the 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.

State BJP minister Chandrakant Patil last week said Harshvardhan Patil 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.

(With inputs from PTI)