Though the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) (Sharad Pawar) has resolved in favour of fielding former MLC Prakash Gajbhiye as its candidate from Ramtek constituency of Lok Sabha, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) maintain that the alliance has not finalised candidate from the constituency. Ramtek seat of Lok Sabha has become sensitive for Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led Mahayuti as well as MVA comprising Congress, NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Shiv Sena (UBT). Since last few days, every party has been trying to explore the possibility of staking claim over Ramtek constituency in seat-sharing. However, none, except NCP (Sharad Pawar) has declared its candidate. Within MVA, this move of Sharad Pawar faction of NCP has created ripples. Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) have maintained that MVA as a whole has not finalised any candidate yet. “Currently, it is decided that INDI Alliance will finalise the seat-sharing for constituent parties for various Lok Sabha constituencies. Subsequently, the parties will nominate their candidates for the respective constituencies. As far as Congress party is concerned, we follow a certain process.

 

We seek the applications from the interested candidates, conduct their interviews, shortlist the names, send them to the parliamentary board, and then finalise the candidates. I don’t want to comment on what NCP did. Every party has its own process. But, the alliance has not finalised seat-sharing yet,” said Rajendra Mulak, President of Nagpur District (Rural) Congress Committee. Dushyant Chaturvedi, Contact Head for Shiv Sena (UBT), another MVA constituent, said, he was not aware of the decision of NCP (Sharad Pawar) of nominating Prakash Gajbhiye as its candidate. “I don’t have any idea about this development. I remember our leader Uddhavji had clearly said that he would not spare Ramtek for other constituents of MVA. But, I heard Shiv Sena has agreed upon 18 Lok Sabha seats in a meeting. In the same meeting, the party seniors might have decided something, which I am not aware of.” “It was our internal decision to support the name of Gajbhiye. Many of our office-bearers and workers demanded that Gajbhiye’s name should be finalised for Ramtek constituency. Accordingly, we decided to announce his name.

 

We hope our other constituents would endorse his name,” said Salil Deshmukh, leader of NCP (Sharad Pawar) and Zilla Parishad member. Names of certain candidates are doing the rounds in every party, as probable candidate for Ramtek constituency of Lok Sabha. From Congress party, Kunal Raut’s name is doing the rounds. Similarly, Shiv Sena (Shinde) wants to field Krupal Tumane, who is hoping for his third term as Member of Parliament from Ramtek. Recently, in a meeting, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, President of State unit of BJP, indicated that his party was planning to stake claim on Ramtek constituency in Mahayuti seat-sharing. Though the name of Prakash Gajbhiye suddenly came into limelight after NCP (Sharad Pawar) passing a resolution favouring his name, whether the party’s Nagpur unit had sought permission of its supremo Sharad Pawar was not known.