This is an archive article published on February 28, 2024
Ajit Pawar-led NCP stakes claim to Shirur Lok Sabha seat; Shinde Sena’s Adhalrao digs heels in
Shirur MP Amol Kolhe, a popular Marathi film and television actor, belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and has been given the green signal to contest the seat in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP said it would contest the Shirur seat which the undivided NCP had won in 2019. (File)
The Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has staked claim to the Shirur Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra, putting the party at loggerheads with its ruling partner, the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Both NCP and Shinde Sena want to contest the seat and defeat actor MP Amol Kolhe, who belongs to the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.
The claim to the seat was made at a meeting between Ajit Pawar and CM Shinde, former Shirur MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil said on Wednesday.
“The meeting was held in Mumbai between the two leaders yesterday. Though I was in Mumbai, I did not attend the meeting. Later, the chief minister told me about the claim made by the NCP,” Adhalrao-Patil said.
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Adhalrao belongs to the Shinde Sena and has already started campaigning in the constituency. “A final decision will be taken by CM Shinde and Deputy Chief Ministers Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar…The CM told me that the three of them will take a decision as early as possible,” he said.
Adhalrao said he was making every effort to contest the seat. “I had won the seat three consecutive times. Last time, I lost, but this time I have covered enough ground and I am confident of defeating the sitting MP who has been away most of the time, shooting for films or television serials. Shirur has seen little development in the last five years…I have been constantly in touch with the people of my constituency and have addressed their issues by taking them up with the state government,” Adhalrao said.
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP said it would contest the Shirur seat which the undivided NCP had won in 2019. “We had won seats like Raigad, Satara, Baramati and Shirur in 2019. Therefore, we will not let go of these seats. We have made the claim for Shirur, as well as other seats,” NCP chief spokesperson Umesh Patil said.
NCP sources said candidates like Pradeep Kand and Vilas Lande are capable of winning the Shirur seat. The name of minister Dilip Walse-Patil is also doing the rounds.
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NCP sources said Kand is currently in the BJP and is close to Fadnavis. Kand has served as the president and vice-president of the Pune Zilla Parishad. On the other hand, Lande is a former Haveli MLA and a former mayor of Pimpri-Chinchwad. “Kand has an edge over Lande,” said an NCP leader.
In 2019, popular Marathi film and television actor Amol Kolhe, who is known for his oratorical skills, won the Shirur seat by defeating Adhalrao. Kolhe is now with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP which has already given him the go-ahead to contest the seat.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
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Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
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