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Lok Sabha elections: Shiv Sena (UBT) on shaky ground in former strongholds of Maval & Shirur

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With the three key alliance partners of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra undertaking a review of their Lok Sabha constituencies, the Shiv Sena (UBT), like the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), is facing a conundrum in the Maval and Shirur seats, its former strongholds in Pune district. The Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray will first have to ensure that it gets to contest both seats. It then faces the uphill task of finding candidates as two of its key leaders have defected to join Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

“We will contest both Maval and Shirur seats. This is because we have been winning the seats for the last 15 years. We do not intend to give them up… But the final decision will be taken through discussions at the MVA meeting,” Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut told The Indian Express.

The Shiv Sena (UBT), which was in alliance with the BJP till 2019, is now a part of the MVA. Before pitching for the Maval and Shirur seats, it will have to cross the NCP hurdle as Sharad Pawar’s party is also eyeing both seats. The NCP has been losing both Maval and Shirur in the last 15 years, except for one occasion in 2019 when it wrested Shirur from the Shiv Sena.

“As per our formula, those who have been winning the seats should get to contest the same seats…Those who till the land have every reason to be its owner. Thus, we have a natural claim over the Maval and Shirur seats as we have won them decisively several times in the past,” Raut said.

However, the two leaders who have been winning the Maval and Shirur seats, Shrirang Barne and Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil, respectively, are no more part of the Shiv Sena (UBT) as they have defected to the Shiv Sena led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Both Barne, who won the Maval seat in 2014 and 2019, and Adhalrao-Patil, who won Shirur on three consecutive occasions, are preparing to contest in 2024. “If the party picks me, I will recontest from Shirur. I have been relentlessly working in the constituency,” Adhalrao-Patil, who lost to NCP candidate and popular Marathi actor Amol Kolhe in the 2019 elections, said.

In Maval, Barne’s defection has pushed the Shiv Sena (UBT) to look hard for a strong candidate. And among the names being considered is Rahul Kalate, who had rebelled against the party and contested the recent Chinchwad Assembly elections. “We are considering various names for Maval Lok Sabha seat. Rahul Kalate is one of them,” Raut revealed.

Kalate, however, is likely to face strong opposition from NCP as he had refused to withdraw from the Chinchwad Assembly bypoll despite requests from Ajit Pawar and other party leaders. Consequently, the NCP blamed Kalate for its candidate Nana Patole’s defeat. Kalate, however, said he was not interested in contesting the Lok Sabha elections. “I will not contest the Lok Sabha election,” Kalate told The Indian Express.

Though the Shiv Sena (UBT) has not zeroed in on a candidate in Shirur, the party is aware that the NCP is facing an impending problem there. NCP MP Amol Kolhe is keeping his cards close to his chest after meeting BJP leaders and has been staying away from NCP meetings and rallies. “If Kolhe defects to BJP, the seat will automatically come to us,” a local Uddhav Sena leader said.

Meanwhile, the Shinde Sena is sitting smugly in both seats. While Barne, the sitting MP, has joined the party and is all set to recontest from Maval, Adhalrao-Patil, a former MP, is gearing up to contest again from Shirur. “Our party has no headaches whatsoever, the Shiv Sena has been ruling Maval and Shirur for long,” Adhalrao-Patil said.

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