Opposition may back MNS candidate against Chandrakant Patil in Kothrud, says Ajit Pawar

In a bid to pose some challenge to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president Chandrakant Patil who is contesting from Kothrud assembly seat, the opposition parties are likely to join hands in lending support to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) candidate Kishore Shinde, who has been fielded against Patil. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader remarked “we will clear our stand soon after holding talks,” Pawar said. He further said that all opposition parties had in fact thought of jointly fielding a single candidate for the Kothrud seat.

Speaking after filing his nomination for the Baramati Assembly seat, senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Friday hinted at the strong possibility of the Congress-NCP led opposition alliance and other friendly parties like the Raju-Shetti led Swabhimani Paksha coming together to support Shinde and prevent splitting of the opposition vote bank.

Pawar further remarked “MNS president Raj Thackeray had put forward Shinde’s name during my discussions with him. Some names were considered by us as well while that of noted activist Vishwambar Chaudhari was put forward by the Swabhimani Paksha… in the recently concluded general election, senior BJP leader Girish Bapat had secured a lead of one lakh votes from the Kothrud segment. So, we were thinking of putting up a single candidate to prevent splitting of votes”.

However, the MNS thereafter had formally declared Shinde’s candidacy and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) announced the name of Dr. Abhijit More for the Kothrud seat.

In contrast, the Congress-NCP and their allies are yet to decide on a candidate in Kothrud and are now thinking of supporting Shinde to prevent a further division of votes.

The NCP leader, who had just recently in a dramatic fashion had resigned from his Baramati seat in the lower house, further clarified that the rebellious senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse was never in touch with him nor NCP State president Jayant Patil. Ajit Pawar’s statement is in sharp contrast to his uncle and NCP chief Sharad Pawar who on Thursday claimed that Khadse, who was feeling unhappy in the BJP, had been in touch with the NCP for the past few months.

“Television channels began running stories that I had chartered a helicopter and was rushing to Jalgaon to ostensibly meet Khadse and had cancelled my campaign tour of Beed district…there is not the slightest truth in such stories and I urge the media not to broadcast such speculative stories,” Pawar said. Khadse, a six-time MLA from his stronghold Muktainagar in Jalgaon, was denied party ticket this time. Instead, his daughter Rohini Khadse was given the ticket in a bid to placate the senior leader and thwart any possible rebellion.

Earlier, Pawar, accompanied by his sons Parth and Jay, had staged a show of strength in Baramati city, the Pawar bastion while filing his nomination papers. “Going by the tremendous support shown by the people, I am confident of winning by a margin of at least one lakh votes in the upcoming contest,” he said. Pawar has been holding the Baramati Assembly seat since 1991, after he was elected when Sharad Pawar quit state politics and moved to national level politics.

Despite the Modi wave in the 2014 Assembly elections and Prime Minister Narendra Modi campaigning in Baramati, Ajit Pawar won the seat by a margin of more than 90,000 votes. Ajit Pawar is now pitted against Gopichand Padalkar, an influential Dhangar leader from Sangli, who is the BJP’s candidate from Baramati seat. . When asked about his opponent, Pawar said “I take any candidate who is fielded against me, seriously. We are preparing in dead earnest and our campaign has no room for complacency.”

Just a few days ago Padalkar re-joined the BJP after defecting from Prakash Ambedkar led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), has been fielded against Ajit Pawar. The BJP has fielded Padalkar considering the strong presence of Dhangar community in the Baramati constituency. In 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Pawar’s cousin, Supriya Sule had narrowly won from the Baramati Lok Sabha constituency against Dhangar community leader and Rashtriya Samaj Paksha (RSP) chief Mahadev Jankar nearly beat her, losing to her only by a slender margin of 70,000 votes.