The NCP Sharad Pawar (SP) released the third list of candidates for the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra on Wednesday.
Maharashtra Legislative Council member Shashikant Shinde will contest from Satara Lok Sabha seat in western Maharashtra, while businessman Shriram Patil has been fielded from the Raver seat in Jalgaon in north Maharashtra, where he is pitted against the BJP’s Raksha Khadse, daughter-in-law of Eknath Khadse, who is seeking a third term.
The NCP (SP) had been facing an internal crisis over Raver after senior party leader Eknath Khadse announced he would be returning to the BJP.
Crisis over Raver
While Mr. Pawar’s faction had been planning to field Mr. Khadse from Raver, the latter, even before announcing his return to the BJP fold, clarified that neither he nor his daughter Rohini Khadse (who remains with the NCP-SP) will be contesting from Raver.
Likewise, in Satara – which is one of four seats won by the undivided NCP in 2019 – the incumbent MP Shriniwas Patil, a close associate of Sharad Pawar, decided that he would not be contesting, citing health concerns.
In his place, Sharad Pawar was compelled to pick Mr. Shashikant Shinde, an MLC. He was earlier legislator for Satara’s Koregaon Assembly segment (2009-14).
Satara goes to polls in the third phase on May 7 while the contest for Raver is slated in the fourth phase on May 13.
Meanwhile, the ruling Mahayuti has not been able to decide on a candidate for Satara. Maratha royal and BJP leader Udayanraje Bhosale, a direct descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, has been eagerly seeking a ticket and started his poll campaign accordingly.
However, the BJP high command has yet to officially endorse him.
Indecision over Madha
The NCP (SP), which is contesting 10 seats (of 48 in Maharashtra) within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition, has yet to announce its candidate for the Madha seat in Solapur.
According to sources, a likely candidate is Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil, nephew of Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil, a former NCP leader and once a close aide of Sharad Pawar who has served as Maharashtra’s Deputy CM.
Before the 2019 general election, Vijaysinh aligned himself with the BJP.
However, there is tremendous discontent within the BJP ranks after the party announced its candidate for Madha - sitting BJP MP Ranjitsinh Naik-Nimbalkar.
That decision upset the Mohite-Patil clan, which constitutes the influential political aristocracy of Madha.
Now Vijaysinh is gunning for a ticket to be given to his nephew, Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil. Sharad Pawar has used the opportunity to cannily win over the Mohite-Patils.
Sources say that Dhairyasheel is likely to join the NCP (SP) on April 13.
