After tussle, NCP set to get Nashik and Osmanabad

MUMBAI: After a tussle with its allies over seat sharing, the Ajit Pawar faction of NCP will finally contest on six seats for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. In addition to the four candidates announced, the party is likely to get Nashik and Osmanabad constituencies, which they are expected to announce soon, NCP insiders confirmed.

“We are getting Nashik and Osmanabad in the seat sharing pact. It is likely to be announced on Tuesday,” said a senior NCP leader.

Amid the fighting between NCP and Shinde faction of Shiv Sena over the Nashik constituency, the former has succeeded in grabbing the seat and is expected to field food and civil supplies minister and OBC face Chhagan Bhujbal. This comes as bad news for the Shinde faction’s sitting MP Hemant Godse, who had shifted his loyalty to Eknath Shinde during the split in Shiv Sena in June 2022.

The negotiations between NCP and its alliance partners have been continuing for the past few weeks. While Ajit Pawar was insistent on nine seats for his party, the BJP had offered only four.

As part of the final agreement among the three allies, NCP will not contest from Satara, which it had originally wanted. BJP wants to field Udayanraje Bhosale, direct descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj from the constituency. NCP gave this seat up in lieu of Nashik, said party insiders.

NCP was not able take a call on a candidate for Osmanabad for a while due to opposition from local BJP leaders. “An agreement was finally reached and NCP will field Archana Patil, wife of sitting BJP MLA Ranajagjitsinh Patil,” said a senior NCP leader. Ranajagjitsinh Patil is a BJP MLA from Tuljapur assembly constituency, and was in undivided NCP before joining BJP in 2019. Archana is likely to join NCP on Tuesday.

NCP leaders said they are also contesting Lakshadweep from where the party has fielded Yusuf TP from the constituency.