In its second list of 23 candidates for the Maharashtra Assembly elections scheduled for November 20, the Congress on Saturday put forward a “strong” candidate to challenge state Bharatiya Janata Party President Chandrashekhar Bawankule.
Bawankule, who is running again for the Nagpur district’s Kamthi seat, which he previously won in 2004, 2009, and 2014 until being removed in 2019, will face off against Suresh Y. Bhoyar, a former Nagpur Zila Panchayat president.
Similarly, in Savner, Nagpur district, the Congress has fielded Anuja S. Kedar, the widow of former minister and five-term MLA Sunil C. Kedar, who was convicted of graft and disqualified. Kedar, the daughter of famed cricket administrator and former Maharashtra Speaker SK Wankhede, whose name is emblazoned on the BCCI stadium in Mumbai, filed her candidacy papers as an Independent but will now run on a Congress ticket.
The Congress’ second list comes two days after the initial list of 48 candidates was released, with the party reportedly at odds with Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) ally Shiv Sena-UBT over some seats in the Vidarbha area.
The others figuring in Saturday’s list also include Rajesh Manavatkar (Bhusawal), Swati Wakekar (Jamod), Mahesh Gange (Akot), Shekhar Shende (Wardha), Girish Pandav (Nagpur South), Pooja Thavker (Bhandara), Dalip Banson (Arjuni-Morgaon), Rajkumar Puram (Amgaon), Vasant Purke (Ralegaon), Anil Balasaheb Mangulkar (Yavatmal), Jitendra Moghe (Arni), Sahebrao Kamble (Umarkhed), Kailas Gorantyal (Jalna), and Madhukar Deshmukh (Aurangabad East).
Vijay Patil will contest from Vasai, Kalu Bhadeliya from Kandivali East, Yashwant Singh from Charkop, Ganesh Kumar Yadav from Sion-Koliwada, Hemant Ogle from Srirampur, Abhay K. Salunkhe from Nilanga, and Ganpatrao Patil for Shiro).
Maharashtra Congress Legislative Party Leader Vijay alias Balasaheb Thorat is likely to call on NCP supremo Sharad Pawar and SS-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray this afternoon to finalize the remaining seat-sharing ratio, including the number of seats that will be allocated to smaller allies, as the last date for filing nominations (October 29) approaches.
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Source: NDTV
