Eknath Khadse not in BJP poll committee

Mumbai: Senior leader Eknath Khadse was conspicuous by his absence in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) core election management committee for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls. Water resources minister Girish Mahajan, who is his party rival in Jalgaon district, has replaced him.

The BJP on Thursday announced the Lok Sabha general election management committee for state. The committee consists of 22 sub-committees, which will be controlled by a six-member core committee headed by state party chief Raosaheb Danve. The committee includes chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Union minister Nitin Gadkari, and state cabinet ministers Chandr-akant Patil, Sudhir Mung-antiwar and Mr Mahajan.

Mr Khadse was part of the BJP’s core committee in the last Lok Sabha elections held in 2014. However this year, he has been relegated to a special contact campaign committee, which also has cabinet minister Prakash Mehta and party spokesperson Shaina NC as members.

According to political experts, Mr Khadse’s name missing from the core committee is a clear sign that he has lost his relevance as a top leader in the BJP. That he has been replaced by his bete noire Mr Mahajan also indicates that the party has decided to acknowledge the efforts of the water resources minister, who played a key role in ensuring the party’s victory in several elections recently held in the state. Mr Mahajan is also known as the crisis man for the chief minister.

However, BJP spokesperson Madhav Bhandari said, “The election management committee will be overlooking the party’s activities during the Lok Sabha polls. Mr Khadse is one of our senior leaders and he is also a part of the management committee.”