Struggling to find a candidate after staking claim to the Shirur Lok Sabha seat, the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) has decided to field former MP Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil, sources in the NCP said. Both Adhalrao and the NCP refused to comment on the development.
Adhalrao-Patil is currently in the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, which along with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP is part of the Mahayuti led by the Bharatiya Janata Party in Maharashtra.
Both the Shiv Sena and NCP have been wrestling for the Shirur Lok Sabha seat, which was earlier known as Khed.
During Mahayuti seat-sharing discussions, Ajit Pawar has been insisting his party should contest the seat as an NCP candidate had won it in 2019. On its part, the Shinde-led Sena has been demanding the seat because Adhalrao-Patil had won the seats three consecutive times in the past.
Top NCP sources said the BJP has brought the two warring parties to an agreement. “Adhalrao will contest on an NCP ticket. Everything has been finalised. Only the announcement has to be made,” said an NCP leader.
When contacted, NCP chief spokesperson Umesh Patil refused to confirm or deny whether Adhalrao will contest on an NCP ticket. “Just wait for two days, everything will become crystal clear,” said Umesh Patil.
Asked whether the NCP had approached him to contest on its ticket, Adhalrao refused to comment. “I don’t know what is happening at the top level. Our party chief, the NCP, and the BJP are in discussion currently. I have been told by the chief minister to wait for two days. Therefore I am expecting an announcement in this regard in two days,” he said.
The Ajit Pawar-led NCP has been forced to turn to Adhalrao as the BJP has set the condition that the seat has to be won under any circumstances. The NCP had zeroed in on Pradeep Kand and Dilip Walse-Patil to contest the seat. But Walse-Patil was reluctant to contest the seat and NCP did not have elective merit in Kand, sources said. “Adhalrao was originally in the NCP before he switched to the Shiv Sena. We have, therefore, no problem in refielding him,” said a source.
After winning the seat for Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena for three consecutive times and that too with a big margin of votes, Adhalrao had to bite the dust in the 2019 elections when the NCP fielded popular Marathi actor Amol Kolhe.
However, after his defeat, Adhalrao remained active and in touch with the people of the Shirur constituency. When Eknath Shinde joined hands with the BJP to form the government, Adhalrao too switched sides. He was promised he would be re-fielded from the Shirur seat.