MVA nod to 12 names for nomination to legislative council; Khadse, Shetti likely to be in list

Senior BJP leader Eknath Khadse. (File)

THE MAHA Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government approved 12 names for nomination to the state legislative council on Thursday, but decided to keep the names under wraps.

According to NCP leaders, two prominent names likely to be in the list are that of Eknath Khadse, who switched over from the BJP to the NCP last week, and farmer leader Raju Shetti.

The three parties, Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, have reached an agreement that they will each recommend four names. Congress spokesperson Gopal Tiwari said, “At today’s (Thursday) cabinet meeting, it was decided that the names of probables from all three major constituents of the MVA will be submitted together to the governor for nomination,” he said.

While the Shiv Sena finalised the names long ago, Congress and NCP were struggling to do so as there were too many claimants for the seats. Umesh Patil, NCP spokesperson, said the party had picked four from among the many claimants.

“Farmer leader Raju Shetti and Eknath Khadse, besides Shivajirao Gajre, Uttamrao Jankar and Anand Shinde, are being considered among others,” said another NCP leader.

While Khadse was said to have been promised a council seat and ministerial berth before he joined the NCP, Shetti, who shares a close rapport with Pawar, lost last year’s Lok Sabha election and his rehabilitation was a top priority for the NCP. Pawar is known to have been keen on getting him into the government.

“He is being nominated and may make it to the ministry as well. Pawar saheb may ask two ministers to quit,” said an NCP leader.

Shetti’s office said last week state NCP chief Jayant Patil had asked for a biodata of the farmer leader. “We have submitted the biodata,” said a close aide of Shetti, who was admitted to Dinanath Mangeshkar hospital in Pune after he complained of uneasiness on Wednesday.

From the Congress side, actress Urmila Matondkar is likely to be nominated. She had unsuccessfully contested the Lok Sabha elections last year on a Congress ticket. Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant is also doing the rounds. When contacted, Sawant said he did not know whether he had been nominated.

As for the Sena, chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said, “The Sena names will be revealed along with names from the other two MVA constituents.”

The term of the 12 members of the state legislative council from the governor’s quota ended in June. The legislative council has a total of 78 members.

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