Lok Sabha elections 2019: BJP gives Madha ticket to Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar

After deliberations for several days, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Friday declared former Congress leader Ranjitsinh Naik Nimbalkar as their candidate from the Madha Lok Sabha constituency in the Solapur district of western Maharashtra.

The party chose not to field Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil, the son of veteran Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Vijaysinh Mohite Patil, who, too, had quit the NCP over the seat.

Naik Nimbalkar, who used to head the Congress’ Satara district unit, quit the party last week to join the BJP. He hails from the Phaltan Assembly segment, which comes under the Madha Lok Sabha constituency.

The BJP is trying hard to win the seat, which is with the NCP since 2009.

Explaining the party’s decision, a senior BJP leader said they were not convinced that Mohite Patil would win the seat.

“The party was sure of getting support from three Assembly segments [for Mohite Patil]. With Naik Nimbalkar’ candidature, we will get vote from the Phaltan Assembly segment too. This makes our position even better,” said a senior party leader, who did not wish to be named.

Another functionary said Mohite Patil was in a dilemma, as NCP chief Sharad Pawar, who represented the Madha constituency between 2009 and 2014, made retaining the seat a prestige issue.

The NCP retained the seat in 2014, even amid the Modi wave. This time, the party has fielded Sanjay Shinde, the president of Solapur zilla parishad.

Mumbai North East remains the only seat for which the BJP is yet to decide a candidate.

The party wants to renominate its sitting MP Kirit Somaiya, but ally Shiv
Sena is against it, as the leader had targeted Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray during the 2017 civic polls.

The Bharatiya Janata Party functionaries said they were still hopeful that the issue would be resolved.

First Published: Mar 30, 2019 02:24 IST