Union Minister Danve: Eknath Khadse was not an Original BJP Worker

Union minister Raosaheb Danve on Friday hit out at his former party colleague Eknath Khadse, who is now set to join the NCP, saying that the latter was "not an original BJP worker".

Danve's statement comes two days after he praised Khadse for his contribution towards building the BJP in the state and also for his "long career" in the party.

Khadse, who had been moping since he was made to leave as a clergyman in 2016 in the then Devendra Fadnavis-drove BJP government over debasement allegations, left the saffron party on Wednesday. Since his renunciation as a pastor, Khadse had to a great extent been sidelined in his gathering. 

Maharashtra NCP boss and state serve Jayant Patil had on Wednesday said Khadse will join the Sharad Pawar-drove



party. 

Conversing with columnists, Danve stated, "Khadse was essential for the Congress(S) in the last part of the 1970s. Sharad Pawar, who was a Congresss pioneer at that point, had sorted out an assembly from Jalgaon to Nagpur, in which Khadse had taken an interest as a laborer of that party."

"Khadse was never an original BJP worker...I am an original BJP worker and also senior to him," Danve added.

He also refuted Khadse's charges that the state unit of the BJP has become "one man's organisation".

"I used to discuss several contentious issues with Devendra Fadnavis when he was chief minister. Fadnavis even agreed to some of these issues, hence it is unfair to say that the BJP is being run by a single person," Danve said.