MUMBAI: Senior BJP leader

appears to be on his way to the Shiv Sena after his massive debacle in the 2019 assembly elections. Patil had a prolonged meeting with chief minister

on Monday.

Patil described his meeting with Thackeray as a courtesy call and said it was to discuss problems faced by a section of cooperative sugar mills in

. "It was a courtesy call, I greeted him on his election as the new chief minister. We discussed problems faced by a few cooperative sugar factories," Patil told TOI.

Patil was first elected to the legislative assembly from Indapur in Pune district in 1995 as an Independent candidate. He was later a cabinet member in the Shiv Sena-BJP government. He joined the Congress and was a cabinet member in the Congress-NCP government. In 2014, he lost the election to NCP's Datta Bharne.

On the eve of the 2019 assembly elections, Patil joined the BJP and unsuccessfully contested the elections from Indapur. He was defeated again by Bharne, who has been inducted into the state cabinet.

Patil is not alone as many erstwhile Congress and NCP leaders, who had joined the BJP on the eve of the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, are keen to return to their original political parties.