Congress stalwart Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil likely to join BJP tomorrow in presence of PM Modi

Senior Maharashtra Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is expected to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his election tour on Friday. The Congress stalwart had quit as the Leader of Opposition in the state Assembly on March 19.

Ahead of this, he attended a meeting chaired by his son and BJP candidate Sujay Vikhe Patil to review preparations for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat.

Sujay was earlier keen on being nominated by the grand old party from the Ahmednagar constituency, a traditional stronghold of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

He joined the BJP last month after the NCP refused to vacate the seat for his electoral debut, and was subsequently given a ticket by the saffron party.

He is pitted against NCP's Sangram Jagtap in the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha seat.  Earlier, Radhakrishna had refused to campaign against his son and for the NCP candidate.