Maharashtra: Congress releases its first list of 48, Praful Gudadhe to challenge Devendra Fadnavis

Congress has fielded Praful Gudhadhe from Nagpur South West who will take on deputy Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis. The party has announced candidates on four seats in Nagpur, including Bunty Shelke from Nagpur Central and incumbent Vikas Thakre and Nitin Raut from Nagpur West and Nogpur North (SC), respectively.

The Congress and Shiv Sena (UBT) had entered into dispute over seats in Nagpur that had derailed the talks of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for over two days. With Congress announcing four seats on Friday and NCP (SP) on one, the disputed Nagpur South seat is yet to be cleared.

Mumbai Congress chief and Lok Sabha MP Varsha Gaikwad’s sister Jyoti Gaikwad will contest from Dharavi (SC) seat. On other seats from Mumbai, incumbents Aslam Shaikh and Amin Patel will contest from Malad West and Mumbadevi respectively. Former minister Naseem Khan will contest from Chandivli.

Senior leaders fielded by the party include former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan from Karad South, Yashomati Thakur from Teosa, Vijay Wadettiwar from Brahmapuri, Amit Deshmukh from Latur city among others, Vishwajeet Kadam from Palus-Kadegaon. Former minister and incumbent KC Padvi whose son Goval Padvi is a Lok Sabha MP from Nandurbar will contest from Akkalkuwa-ST.

The party has also fielded fresh faces. In Nanded’s Bhokar assembly seat, party has fielded Tirupati Kondekar who will take on former CM Ashok Chavan’s daughter Shrijaya. In Shirdi, Prabhavati Ghogare will take on revenue minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil. MLA Shirish Chaoudhari’s son Dhananjay will contest from Raver seat in north Maharashtra. Former MLA late PN Patil’s son Rahul will contest from Karvir assembly in Kolhapur district.

The list also includes Sunil Deshmukh (Amaravati), Gopaldas Agrawal (Gondiya) and Minal Patil-Khatgaonkar (Naigaon) who have returned to the Congress after quitting the BJP. All of them were earlier in Congress and had then joined the BJP.

The party has decided to repeat young incumbents — Kunal Patil (Dhule rural), Ruturaj Patil (Kolhapur South), Raju Awale (Hatkanangale-SC), Sanjay Jagtap (Puranadar), Sangram Thopate (Bhor) among others. The party has also retained Chikhli and dhamangaon railway where Rahul Bondre and Virendra Jagtap will contest, respectively.