Pune: Tension between BJP leader Harshvardhan Patil and Ajit Pawar's NCP continues to escalate in Indapur as the assembly election nears. In a fresh episode, Patil openly expressed his disappointment after his name was missing from a development project event to be inaugurated by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar in Indapur on Friday. "Except mine, names of almost all the office-bearers of a party (NCP) are on the cornerstone of the development project.
There is no invitation to me for the programme. I am not bothered about it as the people of Indapur know my contribution to the tehsil," Patil said. Patil and Ajit Pawar are old rivals.
In 2019, Ajit Pawar had ensured Patil's defeat from the Indapur assembly seat. After the changed political equations following Pawar's entry into the Mahayuti alliance, his party had requested other BJP leaders to convince Patil to help Ajit Pawar's wife Sunetra in her election campaign for Baramati Lok Sabha seat. Patil demanded that the Indapur seat be given to him in the bargain.
He has now claimed that after the Lok Sabha poll, the NCP is not cooperating with him and his supporters. "During the Lok Sabha poll, they wanted help from my supporters. Matters have changed in three months and they are not respecting my supporters any more," the former cabinet minister said.
In a message to NCP, Patil organised his birthday celebration on Wednesday and called a large number of supporters for a show of strength in the constituency. They said that he.