Senior Congress leader Sushilkumar Shinde has said that he and his daughter MLA Praniti Shinde got an offer to join the Bharatiya Janata Party but maintained that he is a loyalist of the Congress and will not quit the party, as reported by news agency PTI. The former Union home minister was speaking at a gathering in Akkalkot tehsil of Maharashtra's Solapur district on Tuesday.
Following the claims made by the Congress leader, the saffron party clarified that no such offer was given to the Shinde father-daughter duo. "Pranititai and I got an offer from the BJP. But how is it possible (to switch sides)? I spent my entire life in Congress and how is it possible to go to others' houses. I never got into such a party changing thing," Shinde said, as quoted by PTI.
On being asked by the reporters about the name of the person who had offered him to join the BJP, he refused to divulge the name, saying that the person who gave the offer is a "big" man. "I told that I am a devout Congressman, and I will not go anywhere else by leaving Congress," he said, as quoted by PTI.
BJP state president Chandrashekhar Bawankule refuted the claim. Speaking to a news channel, he said that no offer to join the BJP was given to Shinde and his daughter, as reported by PTI. Meanwhile, BJP minister Chandrakant Patil, who is Solapur's guardian minister, paid a visit to Shinde's residence in Solapur city. Patil's visit was aimed at giving him an invitation for an upcoming literary meet, PTI reported, citing sources.
Sushilkumar Shinde served as the chief minister of Maharashtra in 2003–2004. He was the Union power minister and also the home minister during the UPA rule. His daughter Praniti is a three-time member of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, elected from the Solapur City Central constituency.