Mumbai: The two dynasts of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) – the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) Rohit Pawar and the Congress’s Praniti Shinde – had a public spat last week over the Solapur parliamentary seat, leading to a clash between the local units of both the parties. A struggle had broken out. More signs of tension within the coalition.
The controversy was started by Rohit Pawar, grandson of NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. Saying That the leadership of Congress and NCP will decide who will get the Solapur seat in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Chhote Pawar is a first-time MLA from Karjat-Jamkhed assembly constituency in Ahmednagar district, while Shinde is an MLA from Solapur city.
Solapur has traditionally been the seat of the Congress within the Congress-NCP alliance and also a party stronghold – Praniti Shinde’s father, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra and Union Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, held the Lok Sabha seat thrice. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been cracking down on this fort since 1996. 2019 Aao Bade Shinde Lost the seat to the BJP’s Jai Siddheshwar Shivachari Mahaswami.
In response to Pawar’s remarks, Praniti Shinde said that he “has not matured yet”.
“Who is Rohit Pawar? He has become an MLA for the first time. “Give him some time. Some people can be childish”.
By Monday, however, the local units had decided to end the dispute. According to Congress and NCP leaders ThePrint spoke to, high officials of both the parties had instructed them not to pursue the issue further and work together against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
He said, ‘We had tea together with NCP leaders and decided that we will tell everything. karyakartas To end the dispute and move forward, work with each other and not against each other.
The Pawar-Shinde tussle is yet another example of a tussle over seat-sharing between the MVA parties – Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), NCP, and Congress – who were political rivals until 2019. The alliance is also facing internal rebellion In the upcoming Kasba Peth and Chinchwad by-elections.
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,If NCP asks for Solapur, should we ask for Baramati?
According to a Solapur Congress functionary, this is not the first time Rohit Pawar has publicly stated that the NCP is interested in the seat; He also talked about it two months ago at a cricketing event. But Congress had then decided to pass it, the functionary said.
He said, ‘Congress is strong here for the last 50 years. If NCP asks for Solapur, should we ask for Baramati? the officer asked.
Baramati is the home ground and stronghold of the Pawar family, with Sharad Pawar’s daughter Supriya Sule holding the parliamentary seat and her nephew Ajit Pawar representing the constituency.
But after local NCP leaders became more aggressive in response to Shinde’s remarks, Rohit Pawar The Solapur MLA tried to douse the fire herself by saying she “has every right to speak like an elder sister”.
Pawar said, “So let’s spend our energy to solve the main problem of today’s unemployment without arguing among ourselves.” his tweet, As far as Solapur seat is concerned, it will be decided by senior leaders of both the parties. I didn’t make any claim, I just expressed the sentiments of common workers.”
Solapur NCP president Bharat Jadhav told ThePrint that some enthusiastic workers had asked Pawar to put forward a proposal for the party to get the constituency in the seat-sharing arrangement for the 2024 general elections.
“He had just said that the MVA leadership will take a decision, but some local Congress leaders misunderstood,” Jadhav said. “Our party leadership told us not to escalate the matter further, and we have also given our instructions karyakartas To work with BJP as our only opponents.
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
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