A day after threatening to quit Congress, Harshvardhan Patil goes incommunicado

Party say decision on Indapur seat not yet final, NCP’s Sule says ready for talks

September 06, 2019 01:35 am | Updated 10:46 am IST - Mumbai

 Harshvardhan Patil

Harshvardhan Patil

A day after hinting that he may quit the Congress and join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), senior Congress leader and former minister Harshvardhan Patil on Thursday remained out of reach of Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders, despite several attempts to contact him.

Mr. Patil had criticised the NCP in a rally on Wednesday.

State Congress president Balasaheb Thorat said “We have not been able to contact Harshvardhan Patil Even [NCP president] Sharad Pawar does not want him to join the BJP. He is positive.” Mr. Thorat said Mr. Patil might be unhappy since he was promised the Indapur Assembly seat, currently held by the NCP, during the Lok Sabha poll campaign.

Former Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, who was in Delhi, told reporters he had been unable to reach Mr. Patil. “There has been no decision on the Indapur seat. On the contrary, talks with Pawar saheb are positive (regarding exchange of the seat). I tried to contact Mr. Patil, but could not reach him,” Mr. Chavan said. He was in Delhi to attend meetings of senior Congress leaders from the State and the screening committee for the Assembly polls.

Supriya Sule, the NCP MP from Baramati, which includes the Indapur Assembly segment, said there has been no discussion regarding the seat. “The NCP is not going to stretch for the Indapur seat. Both parties are entering talks with a list of all 288 seats. This does not mean that the list has been finalised. If [Mr. Patil] has complaints against the NCP, I am ready for a discussion,” she said.

Ms. Sule said she had met the Congress leader three days ago, but he had been incommunicado on Thursday. “I have left a message for him with an important person. I was not startled, but was saddened by his comments about the NCP,” she said.

Mr Patil, in a rally of his supporters on Wednesday, criticised the NCP for not vacating the Indapur seat despite it being promised to him in the Lok Sabha poll campaign. The NCP’s Dattatraya Bharne defeated Mr. Patil from the constituency in 2014, when both parties contested separately.

Meanwhile, the screening committee of the Congress for the Assembly polls met in Delhi on Thursday. According to Leader of Opposition in Assembly Vijay Vadettiwar, the party has finalised the first list of 60 candidates and is likely to declare it by September 10.

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