Veteran Congress leader from Indapur and former Cooperation Minister of Maharashtra Harshavardhan Patil joined the BJP on Wednesday.

Indapur is located between Pune and Baramati, the stronghold of NCP leader Sharad Pawar.

Patil, who was elected as an MLA for the first time in 1995, has held many important portfolios in the previous Congress governments. His bastion Indapur is a major agriculture hub with a long association with the Maratha empire.

After formally joining the BJP in the presence of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, Patil said that he had joined that party without any pre-conditions and would take up any responsibilities deemed fit by the party high command.

He said that the Modi government, in the last 100 days, has taken several brave decisions including abolishing Article 370.

State BJP chief Chandrakant Patil said that had Harshavardhan joined the party before the Lok Sabha elections, Supriya Sule would have lost the poll. The BJP will certainly come back to power in Maharashtra in the forthcoming Assembly election with a thumping majority of over 250 seats, he said.

Chandrakant Patil added that the State government will solve all the problems of the Indapur constituency in a time-bound manner.

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