Amid the intense war of words among the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners, a tug of war has started for the claim of vacant Pune Lok Sabha constituency - considered among the prestigious seats of Maharashtra.
The vacancy in the Pune seat has arisen following the death of Girish Bapat - a BJP veteran - on 29 March.
The MVA partners - the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, Congress and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) - is yet to take a call on who would be contesting but there seem to be many claimants.
In 2019, Bapat won the seat defeating Mohan Joshi of Congress, while in 2014, it was won by Anil Shirole of BJP who had defeated Dr Vishwajeet Kadam of Congress. In 2004 and 2009, the seat was represented by Congress leader Suresh Kalmadi.
It may be mentioned that in the bye-elections to the Kasba Peth constituency - which falls under Pune Lok Sabha seat - Congress candidate Ravindra Dhangekar won the seat defeating BJP’s Hemant Rasane. The elections were necessitated because of death of BJP’s Mukta Tilak, the great-grand-daughter-in-law of revolutionary nationalist leader Lokmanya Tilak.
The MVA, which put up a united front, defeated BJP in the crucial elections.
The NCP is keen to contest the polls and this was evident from the statement of Leader of Opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar. “The Lok Sabha elections are still a year away, and it was assumed that there would be no by-election for Pune. However, we have received information that a by-election will indeed take place. Considering the strength of the NCP in Pune, we are ready to contest the Pune seat,” he said.
On the other hand, state Congress President Nana Patole said: “It would be decided on the grounds of merit as to which party would be contesting the seat.”
However, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha member Sanjay Raut said: “Like the Kasba Peth bypoll, Pune can also be won by the MVA… the winning ability should be considered and we all have to sacrifice a little to save the Constitution and democracy.”