Senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Ajit Pawar on Monday said that “elective merit” would be key while deciding ticket allocation for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking here during an NCP review meeting of Lok Sabha seats in Pune district, Mr. Pawar, the Leader of the Opposition in the Legislative Assembly, said the decision on the Shirur Lok Sabha seat, currently represented by NCP MP Amol Kolhe, would be taken after discussion with senior leaders.
“While allocating tickets for Lok Sabha elections, the opportunity will be given to those candidates with elective merit,” Mr. Pawar said.
There has been talk of late about Mr. Kolhe, a popular vernacular television actor, veering towards the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following his absence from a number of NCP programmes.
Mr. Kolhe also raised eyebrows when he, along with BJP leader and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis’ wife, Amruta, jointly interviewed Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, who is known for his affinity to the BJP.
However, Mr. Kolhe firmly denied speculation over joining any other party, stating that he would undertake whatever responsibility was given to him by NCP chief Sharad Pawar.
In 2019, Mr. Kolhe staged a major upset in the Lok Sabha election in Maharashtra when he defeated three-time MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil of the (then undivided) Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena.
Mr. Kolhe is best known for essaying the roles of the 17th century Maratha warrior king Chhatrapati Shivaji, and especially that of his son, Chhatrapati Sambhaji, in two popular vernacular series that has had Marathi-speaking viewers glued to their televisions.
Of the four Lok Sabha seats in Pune district, the NCP currently has two — Baramati, the stronghold of the Pawar clan, and Shirur.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pawar targeted the ruling Eknath Shinde-BJP government over the delayed second phase of Cabinet expansion, pending for over eight months. The Council of Ministers in the State can have a maximum of 43 members.
“They might be thinking that the present Cabinet of 20 Ministers is doing a good job. They might be thinking it apt not to give representation to any women in their Council of Ministers,” Mr. Pawar quipped in a sarcastic jibe at the ruling alliance.
Besides Chief Minister Shinde and Deputy CM Fadnavis, who were sworn-in in June 2022, 18 other Ministers were inducted in August in the Shinde-Fadnavis government in the first phase of Cabinet expansion.
