Mumbai: All Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs from Satara have opposed the candidature of its Member of Parliament (MP) Udayanraje Bhosale. They have suggested the name of Srinivas Patil, former governor and MP for Satara seat.
In a recent meeting between NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Mr Bhosale, the latter expressed his desire to contest on an NCP ticket again. However, he also said that if Mr Pawar refused to grant him a ticket then he is free to do what he thinks is right. Mr Pawar was on a one-day tour of Satara when he met MLAs of his party.
Satara has been a stronghold of NCP and it has five out of eight MLAs there. However, the five MLAs have now joined hands against party’s two term Lok Sabha MP Mr Bhosale. They reportedly conveyed to Mr Pawar that party should not repeat ticket to Mr Bhosale in upcoming general elections.
Meanwhile, Mr Bhosale met Mr Pawar in Satara on Saturday. “I have told him that I am yours and you are mine. And I have also said that do not try to cheat me. Let’s see,” said Mr Bhosale.
Bharatiya Janata Party has publicly appealed Mr Bhosale to join it. Recently, party’s senior leader and revenue minister Chandrakant Patil had said that NCP will lose its bigger face sooner from Satara district. On this backdrop, Mr Bhosale meeting Mr Pawar was important.
“Nobody has complained against Mr Bhosale to me. Few things keep happening. But at the end, everything will be fine,” said Mr Pawar reacting to the reports of possible defection of Mr Bhosale.
