Congress, NCP may swap Raigad and Amravati seats in Maharashtra
Having finalised the 26:22 seat sharing formula, Congress and NCP in
Maharashtra are likely to swap Raigad and Amravati Lok Sabha
constituencies in the coming general elections.
NCP will most
probably field Water Resources Minister Sunil Tatkare, a close aide of
Ajit Pawar, from Raigad, while PWD minister Chhagan Bhujbal will test
waters from Nashik parliamentary seat, replacing his nephew Sameer. NCP
will give the Amravati seat to Congress in return for Raigad.
NCP
had proposed that as Congress was unable to wrest the Raigad seat from
Shiv Sena for the three consecutive terms, it should be given a chance,
sources said. Similarly, NCP could not win Amravati seat, which was
unsuccessfully contested by Rajendra Gavai of RPI last time with its's
support.
LS polls: Congress, NCP may swap Raigad and Amravati seats in Maharashtra
However, Congress sources said that the swap was not yet finalised.
NCP sources said party supremo and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad
Pawar will meet ministers and office-bearers deputed to tour the 22
constituencies on Tuesday. "He will take stock of the political
situation in the 22 constituencies and discuss finalisation of
candidates. It is likely that both Congress and NCP will announce their
list of candidates after February 21," party sources added.
Home
Minister R R Patil has toured the Maadha constituency and interacted
with the local party leaders to discuss who would replace Sharad Pawar.
Pawar has been elected to the Rajya Sabha and has announced quitting
electoral politics. "The local unit of NCP is divided between senior
leader Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil and Suresh Shinde, brother of local MLA
Baban Shinde," sources informed.
Despite the local unit in Satara
demanding that senior leader Ramraje Naik-Nimbalkar be given the ticket,
it is likely that sitting MP Udayanraje Bhosale will be fielded again,
sources added. After some delay, Congress and NCP decided to continue
with 26:22 formula (26 for Congress and 22 for NCP) for the 48 seats in
Maharashtra.
NCP has already said that it will not part with
Kolhapur seat, and has decided to field Dhananjay Mahadik. The sitting
MP, Sadashiv Mandlik, had contested as an independent after being denied
ticket by NCP in 2009, and has since joined Congress.
Sources
said Congress was not demanding Hingoli for Indian Youth Congress chief
Rajiv Satav, as he had decided not to contest. Sitting NCP MPs Supriya
Sule (Baramati), Padamsinh Patil (Osmanabad), Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai
North East), Sanjeev Naik (Thane), Praful Patel (Gondia) will get
tickets again.
Laxman Jagtap (Maval), Anand Paranjpye (Kalyan),
Suryakanta Patil (HIngoli) have been finalised. Ministers Jaidutt
Kshirsagar and Suresh Dhas are vying for the Beed Lok Sabha seat,
against BJP leader Gopinath Munde.
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