Mumbai: Senior Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil on Wednesday said that joining the BJP remained a mere formality for him and he was awaiting the chief minister’s call for the same.
“Entry into the BJP is not the issue now. I had campaigned openly for the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance during the Lok Sabha polls,” said Mr Vikhe-Patil in Sangamner.
It was the chief minister’s prerogative when to carry out a cabinet expansion and whom to include in the cabinet. Whenever he asked, Mr Vikhe-Patil was ready for the same.
The much awaited expansion of the state cabinet is likely to take place in a couple of days.
Mr Vikhe-Patil is likely to be sworn in as a Cabinet minister during the expansion.
The former Leader of Opposition (Legislative Assembly) said, “There are several leaders who are dreaming of becoming the CM. They should move aside and give an opportunity to young people,” he said.
Early this month, Mr Vikhe-Patil resigned as MLA, paving the way for his entry into the ruling BJP. He is expected to join the ruling party along with some other MLAs of the Congress. Mr Vikhe-Patil quit as Leader of Opposition in March, soon after his son Sujay joined the BJP. Sujay contested the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency on a BJP ticket and won by a margin of 2.81 lakh votes.
The inclusion of Mr Vikhe-Patil will give the BJP a big boost in Ahmednagar as the powerful Vikhe-Patil family wields a lot of influence in the district. In the Ahmednagar Municipal Corporation too, the entire group of Congress corporators is said to belong to the Vikhe-Patil group.
