Mumbai: Admitting into party fold those against whom the BJP had once levelled corruption charges was not a good idea, senior party leader Eknath Khadse said Saturday.
The former Maharashtra minister said the BJP was known as “a party with difference,” and this image must not get hurt.
A slew of leaders including Congress’ Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and Kalidas Kolambkar and NCP MLAs Shivendrasinh Bhosale, Sandip Naik and Vaibhav Pichad joined the BJP in Maharashtra in the recent weeks.
“(Union minister) Nitin Gadkari had made a statement about inflow of leaders into BJP. He said the BJP is in power and therefore many people are joining it,” Khadse told a Marathi news channel.
He quoted Gadkari as adding that those who are joining the party with selfish motives will desert it when it is out of power. “I agree with the statement Gadkari made. I too am for incorporating good people into BJP. The party won’t expand otherwise. But it will be detrimental to take in people against whom we ourselves had leveled corruption charges, or those who had levelled graft charges against us,” Khadse added.
Amid talk of some other BJP leaders eyeing Muktainagar, his assembly constituency, Khadse said, “I will seek the Muktainagar seat (again). I will contest if the party gives me ticket.”
Assembly polls are due in October this year. Khadse, a BJP veteran, resigned from the state cabinet in 2016 when he faced charges of irregularities in a land deal.