NCP announces names of 3 candidates for 6 seats in legislative council elections.
The possibility of an alliance between Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) for the ongoing biennial legislative council elections ended on Tuesday as the former announced three candidates for the six seats for which the polls will be held on November 19. Also, Ashok Chavan, state president, Congress confirmed that there would be no chance of an alliance with the NCP in such a situation.
The Election Commission had announced biennial elections for six constituencies: Sangli-Satara, Pune, Nanded, Jalgaon, Yavatmal and Bhandara-Gondia. The NCP has sitting MLCs in Sangli-Satara (Prabhakar Gharge), Pune (Anil Bhosale), Yavatmal (Sandeep Bajoria) and Bhandara-Gondia (Rajendra Jain). Whereas Congress has sitting MLC Amarnath Rajurkar in Nanded and Gurumukh Jagwani is the sitting MLC of BJP in Jalgaon.
Speaking about his party’s poll candidates, Sunil Tatkare, NCP state president said, “NCP has decided to give a second term to Rajendra Jain from Bhandara and Anil Bhosale from Pune constituency. However, we have replaced Prabhakar Gharge with Shekhar Gore in Sangli-Satara.” When asked about the Yavatmal and Nanded seats, Mr Tatkare said, “Candidates for these two constituencies will be announced by the evening. The last date to file nominations is Wednesday.
Meanwhile, after getting the green signal from party vice-president Rahul Gandhi, Congress has decided to contest the LC elections alone. Former minister Patangrao Kadam’s brother Mohan Kadam submitted his nomination for Sangli on Monday. Also, Shankar Badhe from Yavatmal and Praful Agrawal, son of party legislator Gopaldas Agrawal, filed their nominations on Tuesday.
Mr Badhe is a close confidant of former minister Shivajirao Moghe whereas sitting Mr Jain is a close confidant of NCP leader and former Union minister Praful Patel. According to Ashok Chavan, Congress is in a good position in Nanded, Sangli, Yawatmal and Bhandara.
According to a Congress insider, Bhandara and Sangli prove a challenge for the NCP this time, as Congress has strengthened its base in the zilla parishad and municipal councils. On the other hand, Mr Tatkare claimed that the NCP is number one in local bodies where the LC election is due.
Meanwhile, Mr Bajoria has told party leader Ajit Pawar that he is not interested in contesting the election. A Congress insider claimed Mr Bajoria does not dare to contest the poll because of the inquiry pending against him in the Gosikhurd irrigation project mattter. On the contrary, NCP would give his brother candidature, sources said.
