Pune: Ahead of State Assembly Elections, Electing Post of City President for Pimpri Chinchwad is Thorn to NCP-Ajit Pawar Side

Pune: It is being seen that the issue of electing the city president for Pimpri Chinchwad has been daunting for the NCP-Ajit Pawar group. As more than fifteen days have passed since the former city president of the NCP, Ajit Gavhane, switched to the NCP (SP) party, no one has been appointed to the post by the NCP.

On July 16, the former city president of the NCP, Ajit Gavhane, resigned from the post. On the very next day, he entered the NCP (SP) party along with his supporters, former corporators, and officials. As the city president himself departed, NCP party chief Ajit Pawar himself came to Pimpri Chinchwad city and talked to officials.

After the meeting of Sharad Pawar in the city, Ajit Pawar himself organised a meet in the city to boost the confidence of party activists. At that time, he assured party activists that soon the post of city president would be filled. However, the party has not elected anyone to that post yet.

Like Ajit Gavhane, who switched sides from the NCP to the NCP (SP) in the hope of getting the chance of contesting the Bhosari assembly constituency, many other officials from the NCP are hesitating from taking the post of city president. They are preparing to contest the upcoming legislative assembly election from their respective constituencies.

Currently, big names such as MLA from Pimpri Anna Bansode, former Mayor Yogesh Bahal, Jagdish Shetty, Nana Kate, Bhausaheb Bhoir, and Shyam Lande are being suggested by party officials to party leaders for the post. However, many of them are not that interesting for receiving the post. Bansode is the standing MLA and is likely to contest again from the Pimpri constituency, and Behl is demanding the MLA post from the governor-elected quota.

Similarly, Kate and Bhoir are preparing to contest from the Chinchwad constituency. Therefore, if the Chinchwad assembly constituency goes to the BJP in the seat-sharing arrangement from Mahayuti, which is much more likely expected, these leaders can likely change their parties and may contest from the other party’s side. Therefore, they are hesitant to take on such a big responsibility for the next two to three months.