As many as 14 Bharatiya Janata Party corporators from Jalgaon City Municipal Corporation on Sunday resigned in support of senior party leader and former Maharashtra Minister Eknath Khadse.
Khadse hails from Jalgaon district and had won from the Muktainagar constituency in the 2014 Maharashtra Assembly polls. The resignations were submitted to Jalgaon city unit president and local Bharatiya Janata Party Member of Legislative Assembly Suresh Bhole.
Confirming the move, Bhole said all the BJP corporators submitted their resignations to him expressing their displeasure at the party asking Khadse to tender his resignation from the Maharashtra cabinet.
"Party corporators expressed their support to Khadse. Since today is a Sunday and all party offices are closed, I will fax them (the resignations) to the state (Maharashtra) BJP leadership on Monday," Bhole said.
Barring Bhole, no other supporter of Khadse from Jalgaon was willing to speak to the media. Sources said that a section of the local BJP leadership and the 14 corporators loyal to Khadse felt that "the party had done injustice on Khadse" and that "the party did not support him".
Moreover, the local BJP supporters of Khadse blamed the media for forcing their leader to resign from the state Cabinet. Sources said that strict instructions have been issued to local leaders not to speak to the media out of turn and hence no one is willing to talk on the issue.
Khadse or his closest ally BJP Member of Legislative Council Gurmukh Jagwani and others were not available for comment. On Saturday, facing a string of allegations including irregularities in a land deal, Khadse had resigned from the Maharashtra Cabinet.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had announced an inquiry by a retired high court judge into the allegations against Khadse, as sought by the senior leader himself.
