Shashikant Shinde almost certain to be NCP (SP) candidate in Satara

Earlier, Satara was expected to be a straight fight between the two NCP parties led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar.

NCP (SP) is likely to field legislator Shashikant Shinde for the Satara seat which has always supported the candidate of Sharad Pawar. (File photo)

After studying all possible options for Satara Lok Sabha constituency to take on the likely BJP candidate Udayanraje Bhosale, the NCP (SP) is likely to field legislator Shashikant Shinde for the seat which has always supported the candidate of Sharad Pawar.

Sitting MP Shriniwas Patil has refused to contest election citing health issues. Thus, the NCP (SP) has been in search of a formidable candidate against almost certain BJP candidate Bhosale, who is a descendent of Maratha King Chhatrapati Shivaji.

Earlier, Satara was expected to be a straight fight between the two NCP parties led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar. However, Ajit-led NCP struggled to find a strong candidate in Satara and Bhosale refused to contest as NCP candidate. Bhosale instead convinced BJP to contest the seat and give another seat to Ajit-led NCP.

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It made the Sharad Pawar-led NCP to rethink on its strategy and field a strong candidate against Bhosale and reportedly reached out to a Congress leader to contest on its ticket but he clarified that he would contest only as a Congress candidate.

“It is clear that Sharad Pawar-led NCP will contest the Satara seat. There were four aspirants and best option is to field Shinde in the current political situation,” said a leader of NCP (SP).

Shinde was elected to state assembly in the past from Satara district and is presently a party legislator in council. He has good support in Satara district and with support of Congress and Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, is hoping to make it to Lok Sabha.

Ajay Jadhav

Ajay Jadhav is an Assistant Editor with The Indian Express, Pune. He writes on Infrastructure, Politics, Civic issues, Sustainable Development and related stuff. He is a trekker and a sports enthusiast. Ajay has written research articles on the Conservancy staff that created a nationwide impact in framing policy to improve the condition of workers handling waste. Ajay has been consistently writing on politics and infrastructure. He brought to light the lack of basic infrastructure of school and hospital in the hometown of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde even as two private helipads were developed by the leader who mostly commutes from Mumbai to Satara in helicopter. Ajay has been reporting on sustainable development initiatives that protects the environment while ensuring infrastructure development. ... Read More

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