Sujay did not consult me before joining BJP: Cong leader Vikhe Patil

Mumbai: Senior Maharashtra Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said his son Sujay did not consult him before joining BJP, in a press conference held in Mumbai on Thursday.

The Leader of Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly said that since Pawar despised his family so much, he would not campaign for the NCP candidate from Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat.

“If Pawar despises my family so much, I would rather not campaign for the NCP candidate from Ahmednagar," he said. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said that he will campaign in other parts of Maharashtra, as decided by his party. "I will abide by the party high command's decision," he added.

Pawar recently alluded to how he ensured the defeat of Balasaheb Vikhe Patil (in an election in the early 1990s) and that he also remembered the lawsuit the late Congress leader filed against him.

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is the son of Balasaheb Vikhe Patil, a former Union minister. "Sharad Pawar's comment against my father was unwarranted and uncalled for.

Talking about his resignation from the post of Leader of Opposition in the press conference, he said, “I will follow whatever my party leadership asks me to do.”

His son Sujay Vikhe Patil, a neurosurgeon, on Tuesday, joined the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who said he will recommend his name for the Ahmednagar LS seat to BJP leadership.

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil said the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency was not the core issue of the seat-sharing talks between his party and the NCP. "We wanted both the parties to win more seats, hence we held talks on whether some seats can be exchanged. Sujay's candidature was not the only issue," he said.

He also dismissed the possibility of his son's candidature on BJP ticket affecting the overall performance of Congress and NCP nominees in the state.

The Congress and NCP have reached a pre-poll alliance for the next month's Lok Sabha polls.