'Leaders like me could've helped BJP win more seats': Khadse

Mumbai: Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse on Wednesday said the BJP could have won 20 to 25 seats more in the last month’s Maharashtra Assembly polls, if he and some other party leaders were actively involved in the election campaign.

The former revenue minister, who resigned in 2016 over allegations of corruption, said leaders like him, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Vinod Tawde and some others were “deliberately kept out” of the state election campaign.

“This decision cost the party dearly. Had we been involved in a better way, the BJP could have won at least 20 to 25 seats more,” he claimed while talking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises here.

“We raised this issue with our senior leaders earlier also,” he said.

The BJP won 105 seats in the October 21 state polls to the 288-member House.

When pointed out that the BJP earlier claimed to have proof of alleged corruption against NCP leader Ajit Pawar but recently tied-up with him to form government in Maharashtra, Khadse said, “It seems we have dumped it (proof documents) in scrap.”

The BJP and the Sena, which fought the last month’s Assembly polls in an alliance, secured a comfortable majority by winning 105 and 56 seats respectively.

The Sena, however, broke its three-decade-long ties with the BJP after the latter declined to share the chief minister’s post.

The NCP and Congress won 54 and 44 seats respectively.