India, July 13 -- NCP (SP) MLC Eknath Khadse on Sunday claimed that union home minister Amit Shah had made him an offer to join the BJP before the Lok Sabha polls. Without naming his immediate rival Girish Mahajan, he said that "local politicians" from his area opposed this.

Khadse began his political career with the BJP and helped the party expand in North Maharashtra. He had to resign in 2016 amid a string of corruption charges, with a non-bailable arrest warrant pertaining to those charges issued against him five months ago. In October 2020, he joined the undivided NCP, proclaiming that the then deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis was out to finish his political career.

Speaking to the media on Sunday, Khadse said that Shah had c...