Pune: NCP (SCP) chief Sharad Pawar on Monday announced the candidature of Harshvardhan Patil from Indapur seat for the upcoming assembly polls soon after he joined the party. Pawar also hinted that Ajit Pawar-led NCP member Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar will switch to his party next week. "While coming to Indapur, I got a call to come to Phaltan on October 14.
When I sought the reason, they told me it was for the same one as Indapur's," Pawar said at a rally in Indapur, where he indicated that Ramraje Naik Nimbalkar may join his party on October 14. "After Phaltan, nearly the entire month is booked for me to attend similar events," Pawar said, hinting at more leaders from other parties joining him before the assembly poll. Patil, the former state cooperative minister quit the BJP on October 4, making it clear that he would join Pawar.
In 2019, he left the Congress just before the assembly poll to join the BJP. "I always felt that he (Patil) chose the wrong path. It was not a natural choice for him (to join the BJP).
His father followed Mahatma Gandhi, Pandit Nehru and Yashwantrao Chavan. Even Harshvardhan in his mind continued to follow the same ideology. He took a long time to decide (quitting the BJP), but he made the right call," Pawar said in Indapur.
State NCP (SCP) president Jayant Patil, in his speech, said that he was in touch with Patil even before the Lok Sabha poll. He said, "I contacted him before the poll, but at that time he said that he was still with the BJP. We talk.