Decision to induct Vikhe Patil senior into Maha cabinet to be taken after May 30

A decision on inducting Congress leader Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil into the Devendra Fadnavis ministry in Maharashtra will be taken once the new Modi Cabinet takes oath on May 30, a BJP leader said Monday. Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil son Sujay won the just held Lok Sabha elections from Ahmednagar in western Maharashtra on a BJP ticket.

Ever since Sujay Vikhe Patil, a neurosurgeon by profession, joined the BJP in March, speculation has been rife that his father, too, will enter the saffron fold. "All decisions (on Vikhe Patil senior joining the Fadnavis ministry) will be finalised only after May 30 when the new Modi-led NDA government will take the oath," said the BJP leader requesting anonymity. "The BJPs central leadership is currently busy with finalising new names (of the Modi Cabinet), he said. "Once the new Cabinet takes oath, decisions related to the Maharashtra Cabinet expansion and induction of Vikhe Patil would be finalised, said the BJP leader.

Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, a senior Congress MLA and former minister, resigned as Leader of Opposition in the assembly in April, weeks after his son joined the BJP. "First, Vikhe Patil will have to quit the Congress and join the BJP. If he is offered a ministerial berth, he can be in the ministry without being a member of either house for the next six months. "The assembly elections are just four months away," the leader said. Sujay Vikhe Patil had joined the BJP after the Sharad Pawar-led NCP refused to give up its claim on the Ahmednagar Lok Sabha constituency as part of its seat-sharing pact with the Congress.