Maharashtra Elections: Eknath Khadse announces retirement from electoral politics. Here’s what he said

Senior NCP (SP) leader Eknathrao Khadse announced his retirement from electoral politics on Monday ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly elections. The former multi-term MLA from Muktainagar also urged people to elect his daughter and NCP-SP nominee Rohini Khadse from the constituency.

“I have decided not to contest elections henceforth. I have been with you for many years. You have supported me for many years and blessed me. I have participated in your joys and sorrows. I have helped everyone without looking at caste and religion. God will decide whether I see the next election or not…if my health is good. I may or may not be in the next election. But in this election I will request you all to elect Rohini tai,” he urged in a video message.

The senior politician had held the Muktainagar seat in Jalgaon for six consecutive terms from 1989 to 2019 as a BJP candidate.

Khadse quit the BJP in 2020 and eventually joined the undivided NCP three years later. He had opted to remain with the Sharad Pawar-led faction as the NCP split and allied itself with the BJP-Shiv Sena government.

Speculation about his return to the saffron party has gained momentum in recent months — especially after the BJP re-nominated his daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse as a Lok Sabha poll candidate and consequently made her a Union Minister of State.

The video message on Monday however appears to indicate that Rohini Khadse will be his heir apparent in politics.

“I was not keen on returning to the BJP fold, but senior leaders of the party insisted on it. When I met BJP president J P Nadda, he felicitated me with a scarf, and declared that I had become part of the BJP,” he told a regional news channel in mid-September.

(With inputs from agencies)