Pune: Ajit Pawar increases suspense over candidature; supporter asks to contest from Shirur-Haveli segment

Pune: NCP (AP) President and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar on Sunday increased suspense over his candidature.

He said, “Taluka president Ravi Kale has publically demanded that I should contest from Shirur-Haveli. I will not comment on it now. A meeting of the Maha Yuti constituents will be held on Monday (August 19) night. I will decide whether to contest from Shirur-Haveli after checking which assembly segments are allotted to us.”

Sitting Shirur-Haveli MLA Ashok Pawar has started preparing for the Assembly election from the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). However, neither the NCP (AP) nor BJP is speaking about a Maha Yuti candidate. Office-bearers from the Mahar Yuti partners are confused which party would get the seat. The BJP is unable to guess who would be fielded. Ghodganga Co-operative Sugar Mill director Dada Patil Farate and taluka president Ravi Kale are the aspirants from the NCP (AP). If the seat goes to the NCP (AP), Shiv Sena (UBT) district president Mauli Katke may cross over to NCP (AP) to contest from the segment.

Meanwhile, Ravi Kale insisted that Ajit Pawar should be fielded from the seat when Ajit Pawar and State President Sunil Tatkar visited Sanaswadi on Sunday (August 18). His demand received a big applause.

Everybody in the meeting was curious to know the reaction of Ajit Pawar to this. At the end of his speech, Ajit Pawar said, “Though I was not completely aware of what Ravi Kale said, I got his point. There is a meeting of Maha Yuti partners tomorrow (Monday) night. Seat-sharing talks will take place.”

He said, “While deciding candidates within the NCP (AP), the elective merit factor will be decisive.” He avoided a direct comment on the Shirur-Haveli seat. Later, when asked if he could contest from Shirur-Haveli, he said, “Let us see, wait a bit.” Thus, he increased suspense over his candidature.