Possibility of me getting ticket cannot be ruled out: Eknath Khadse

BJP leader Eknath Khadse on Tuesday expressed hope of contesting as a BJP candidate saying that the possibility of him getting a ticket cannot be ruled out.

"I have filed my nomination today. My name is not on the list issued by the party, but the possibility of me getting a ticket cannot be ruled out. I don't know if this seat is going to be with Shiv Sena or with BJP, what I know is that I have been a BJP loyalist for the past 42 years," Khadse said while speaking to reporters here.

He added that if being loyal to the BJP was a crime, then he was a criminal.

"If being a loyalist to the party is a crime, then yes I am a criminal. In the past 25 years, from the times of Pramod Mahajan and Gopinath Munde Ji, I have been a part of the decision-making bodies in BJP Maharashtra. I decided tickets for others," he said.

The BJP has released its first list of 125 candidates while its ally Shiv Sena put out a list of 124 seats for the polls. Maharashtra will go to polls on October 21 and the counting of votes will take place on October 24.