Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse has refuted media reports doing rounds that he is considering joining the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) after being denied ticket by the BJP for the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.
Attacking the NCP chief Sharad Pawar for allegedly spreading "false statements", Khadse said, "I have not met either Sharad Pawar or any other leader from his party in the past year, neither have I held talks with them. I do not know why he is giving false statements of me being in touch with him or me fighting on an NCP ticket."
However, Khadse's daughter, Rohini Khadse was allotted ticket from the Muktainagar seat by the BJP.
As per reports, Pawar had said that the seven-time MLA Khadse was in touch with him and could defect from the BJP to join ranks with the NCP.
However, Khadse, who is one of the senior-most leaders in the state refuted all these allegations and said he was a devoted worker of the BJP and would stick with it no matter what, "I have no knowledge of whether I will be made a governor or be assigned some other role but I am a dedicated worker of the party and will readily do whatever the BJP asks me to."
The seven-time MLA said that he had held talks with Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis a couple of months back in which he got indications that the party had something else planned for him.
"I had held talks with Chief Minister two months back, he had then said that Rohiniji might be given the ticket from my seat as he had some other plans for me. However, a candidate list is going to come out tomorrow, the person whom the party picks will be the final candidate, nothing is final as of yet," Khadse said.
Earlier today, BJP released the fourth list of seven candidates for the upcoming elections. The voting will take place in Maharashtra on October 21. The counting of votes will be done on October 24.
( With inputs from ANI )