No BJP ticket,Poonam meets Raj

Despite hectic lobbying by her uncle Gopinath Munde for a BJP ticket,the BJP announced the name of senior local leader Kirit Somaiya for the constituency,leading to strong displeasure within the Munde group of the party.

Poonam,who heads the Youth wing of the BJP in Mumbai,met Raj early in the morning at his Shivaji Park residence. The MNS has already declared Shishir Shinde,its chief organiser for the eastern suburbs,as its candidate from Mumbai North-East.

8220;The seat that she is seeking has been declared by the party already. As of now,there doesn8217;t seem to be anything in the meeting apart from a courtesy meeting,8221; said MNS spokesman Nitin Sardesai.

Party sources said while the list of candidates announced last week was not final,Mahajan could also be considered for a ticket for the Assembly elections due later this year.