After hitting a roadblock, the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is likely to seal an alliance with the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksha, which has a formidable presence in the ‘sugar heartland’ of Maharashtra.
On Thursday, the NCP, in its first list of candidates, announced its official support for Mr. Shetti from the Hatkanangale Lok Sabha constituency in Kolhapur.
“Discussions on seat-sharing were in the final stage with the Congress and will be resolved soon,” said Swabhimani Paksha leader Anil Pawar.
In addition to his present constituency in Kolhapur, Mr. Shetti, a two-time MP from Hatkanangale, had demanded the Buldhana and Wardha seats from the Congress-NCP alliance, claiming it had an edge in these two constituencies. With the Congress dragging its feet on Mr. Shetti’s demands, the latter had threatened to contest alone by announcing his list of candidates on Wednesday. However, as a compromise, the Congress is expected to offer the Sangli Lok Sabha seat to Mr. Shetti’s party.
Sources said that the Swabhimani Paksha had given the Congress freedom to choose a candidate on the condition that he or she would be contesting on the Swabhimani Paksha symbol. A delegation of Congress leaders including Satej Patil and Vishwajeet Kadam met with Mr. Shetti in Kolapur on Thursday to decide on the candidates.
Earlier, the Swabhimani Paksha had hoped to field its State president Ravikant Tupkar from the Buldhana LS seat as the party believes that he has a strong base in the district. It had also been gunning for former Union Minister Subodh Mohite for the Wardha seat. “The Congress wishes to keep the Wardha seat because of its heritage and the constituency’s historical association with Mahatama Gandhi and Sevagram. In its place, it has offered us the Sangli seat,” said a Swabhimani Paksha leader.
He further said that Mr. Tupkar will be focusing on Assembly election, with support from the Congress. The Congress is interested in fielding a candidate belonging to the house of Vasantdada Patil, a political leader from Sangli.
The other factor is the sizeable Dhangar constituency in Sangli. “We [Congress-Swabhimani Paksha] are considering Gopichand Padalkar, an influential Dhangar leader as a candidate. The choice also depends on whom the BJP fields from Sangli,” said the leader. The seat-sharing will be resolved within a day or two.