Booked in murder case, Sunil Shelke is first-time NCP MLA, was in Ajit Pawar camp during crisis

Shelke, his brother Sudhakar Shelke, and others have been booked by the police in connection with the murder of Aware, 48, at Talegaon Dabhade on Friday. Aware was shot dead in broad daylight by a group of about six people near the Talegaon Dabhade Municipal Council near Pune.

Shelke hails from a political family that was associated with the BJP for a long time. He has also served as a deputy council president of the Talegaon Municipal Council.

During the 2019 elections, after being denied a party ticket by the BJP, Shelkhe approached the NCP and was picked to contest from Maval. Shelke went on to defeat three-time sitting BJP MLA Bala Bhegde by a convincing margin.

Local party leaders say Shelke is known for his proximity to NCP leader Ajit Pawar. Following the assembly election results in Maharashtra, when Ajit Pawar joined hands with the BJP to briefly become deputy chief minister in a failed political move, Shelke was among the handful of MLAs who had backed him.

During the recent bypolls to the Chinchwad assembly constituency, party leaders said, Ajit Pawar had entrusted Shelke with the task of getting the party’s candidate elected. For instance, they said, Shelke was part of attempts to get Independent MLA Rahul Kalate to withdraw from the race. However, he failed in the bid and the presence of Kalate in the ring damaged the NCP candidate’s chances with the BJP winning the seat.

“Ajit Pawar has a lot of confidence in Shelke’s abilities to win elections,” NCP sources said. “Given his popularity in the Maval area, Shelke might have even become the party’s candidate for the Maval Lok Sabha seat in the next elections,” said an NCP leader from the area.

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When asked about the murder charge against Shelke, State NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Tapase said, “We have come to know about it… We are looking into it.”