Maharashtra: Few Lok Sabha seats in limbo as parties struggle to get the right faces

The struggle to find the right candidates has delayed the announcement of candidates for a few Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

In Maharashtra, the BJP is finding it difficult to pitch a strong candidate against NCP nominee Sanjay Mama Patil in the Madha constituency. Sanjay is the president of Zilla Parishad where he has the support of BJP and the Swabhimani Shetkari Sangatan. BJP had poached Ranjeet Singh Mohite Patil, but he has refused to contest against Sanjay.

Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior BJP minister Chandrakant Patil roped in Satara Congress president Ranjeetsingh Naik Nimbalkar with the aim of fielding him against Sanjay. However, the party is unsure if Nimbalkar will be a formidable enough candidate from Madha, which in turn has delayed an announcement. Sources in the BJP said that the party is also considering poaching and fielding NCP MP Vijay Singh Mohite Patil. However, he seems to have not responded positively.

In Raver LS constituency, where BJP has fielded Eknath Khadse's daughter-in-law Raksha Khadse, the NCP wants to give the seat to Congress in exchange for Aurangabad. However, the Congress has refused to swap. The challenge for NCP is to get a strong candidate against Raksha. The party is also considering offering the seat to Congress in exchange for Pune.

On the other hand, Congress party president Rahul Gandhi had asked former CM Prithviraj Chavan to consider a candidature from Pune. However, Chavan has flatly refused to contest from Pune, saying he has no base in the city. Meanwhile, BJP has already announced its minister Girish Bapat as their candidate from Pune.

"NCP wants this Pune seat and they are planning to field Sambhaji Brigade president and Maratha leader Pravin Gaikwad. If the Congress has no candidate, then they should swap this seat in return of Raver, where they have a good candidate — Ulhas Patil, who is a also a former Congress MP. Ulhas belongs to the Leva Patil community and can give a decent fight to Raksha," said a source requesting anonymity.

While in Sangli, confusion persists on whether the seat will be fought for by the Congress or the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Sangathan. Vishal Patil, grandson of former CM Vasant Dada Patil, is still a part of Congress and one of the hopefuls for the Sangli constituency. His brother, Pratik quit the Congress a few days ago.