Denied LS poll ticket, BJP's Jalgaon MP meets Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut; move triggers speculation

Mumbai, Unmesh Patil, BJP MP from Jalgaon in north Maharashtra who failed to get a party ticket for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, met Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, sparking speculation about his future political move. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) denied ticket to Patil and replaced him with Smita Wagh from the Jalgaon parliamentary constituency.

The BJP is fighting the Lok Sabha elections, to be held in five phases between April 19 and May 20, as part of the 'Mahayuti' (grand alliance) with Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) headed by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar as its two other constituents.

Talking to reporters after his meeting with Raut here, Patil said, "All your questions will be answered in detail, but today is not the appropriate day for it." Patil said he and Raut have been colleagues in Parliament and he wanted to have a dialogue with the latter. His meeting with Raut was only an attempt to protect the friendship that goes beyond politics, he added.