News Brief
Kuldeep Negi
Mar 13, 2024, 09:29 AM | Updated 09:29 AM IST
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In a significant development in Maharashtra politics, the Mahayuti alliance, a coalition of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde's faction of the Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has made substantial progress in their seat-sharing negotiations ahead of the upcoming elections.
The alliance has finalised the four seats from where Ajit Pawar led NCP will field its candidates.
Ajit Pawar, leading the NCP and a key figure in the alliance, will field candidates from Baramati, Raigarh, Shirur, and Parbhani.
The BJP is slated to contest 31 seats, while the Shiv Sena under Eknath Shinde's leadership will vie for 13 seats.
The electoral battle in Baramati is set to capture national attention, with a direct contest anticipated between members of the Pawar family following Ajit Pawar's revolt that led to a split within the party.
The sitting MP from Baramati and Ajit Pawar's cousin, Supriya Sule, will likely face off with her sister-in-law and Pawar's wife, Sunetra Pawar.
In Raigarh, the NCP has positioned Maharashtra president and current MP Sunil Tatkare to contest against Anant Geete, likely to be fielded by Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena.
Geete had earlier served as a Union Minister in PM Narendra Modi's first term.
In Shirur, the NCP may field Pradeep Kand or Adhalrao Patil. Both leaders are not a part of the party. While Patil, a former Shiv Sena MP, was appointed as the chief of the MHADA last month by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Kand is the chief of a district cooperative bank in Pune.
Meanwhile, Rajesh Vitekar is poised to represent the NCP in Parbhani against Sanjay Haribhau Jadhav, a prominent leader from the Uddhav Thackeray camp and the current MP.
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Kuldeep is Senior Editor (Newsroom) at Swarajya. He tweets at @kaydnegi.