Eknath Khadse: Where does he fit in the intricate Sena-NCP equation

What makes Khadse so important? At the heart of it, is caste

In the past, in Maharashtra, the traffic has been one-way: Members of Opposition parties, including the Congress, and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), resigning to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). It became so bad that then BJP President Amit Shah jocularly remarked every leader in the Congress and the NCP — except for Sharad Pawar and Prithviraj Chavan — was queuing up to knock at the BJP’s doors.
 

That was just before the Assembly election when it looked as if the BJP was going to sweep Maharashtra. That it failed to do so, is another matter. But the fact is,