By IANS
Nagpur : Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader Datta Meghe has abandoned his plans to join the Shiv Sena and has also persuaded his son Sagar to return to the party fold from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The NCP MP in the Rajya Sabha had accepted a Shiv Sena offer of nomination to the upper house of parliament a couple of months back when he had lost hopes of getting another term from his party.
Looking to the loss in store for the NCP in Vidarbha, where Meghe enjoys a considerable following, key party functionaries brokered a deal promising a ministerial berth to Sagar in Maharashtra, NCP sources said.
Sagar represents the BJP in the Maharashtra’s legislative council.
The sources said the senior Mehge has also been promised a Lok Sabha ticket in the next election.
However, a source close to the Meghe family said the Rajya Sabha member had decided to remain in the NCP in deference to his four-decade old friendship with party president Sharad Pawar.
A staunch protagonist of a separate Vidarbha state, Meghe had dropped hints that he would remain in the NCP a few days back from the platform of the Vidarbha Vikas Parishad he heads, saying: “I was, I am and I will be Pawar’s follower even after statehood is granted to Vidarbha.”