Shinde Sena drops sitting MPs in Hingoli, Yavatmal-Washim

The ruling Eknath Shindeled Shiv Sena faction is facing trouble over its candidate selection.

On Thursday, the party dropped its sitting Hingoli MP Hemant Patil, whose name had already been announced, and replaced him with Baburao Kadam Kohlikar who filed his nomination on Thursday.

The party also dropped Bhavana Gawli, the fiveterm Sena MP from YavatmalWashim.

In what is seen as a move to placate Hemant Patil, the Shinde Sena has fielded his wife, Rajashri, from YavatmalWashim, which reportedly has upset Ms. Gawli. According to sources, there was fierce opposition from within the party on fielding Mr. Patil and Ms. Gawli this time.

Mr. Shinde, in a rally in Hingoli in support of Mr. Kohlikar, said,

“We are compelled to make some adjustments in politics. Everyone will get the justice and respect due to them. Both Bhavana Gawli and Hemant Patil

According to sources, there was fierce opposition from within the party on fielding Hemant Patil and Bhavana Gawli

should rest assured on this count.”

Earlier, the Shindeled Sena had been compelled to give up the Shirur Lok Sabha seat to the Ajit Pawarled Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), with Shivajirao AdhalraoPatil, previously in the Shindeled Sena, now contesting on the NCP symbol.

Mr. Shinde’s faction has so far announced candidates for eight Lok Sabha seats. It is being cautious with the selection on other seats. Though it has said it would contest at least 16 seats, it is being cautious on selection of candidates.

The party’s flipflop over candidate selection did not go unnoticed with Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut claiming that Mr. Shinde was “under pressure from BJP” and hence unable to decide on candidates.