Mumbai, Oct 7 (SocialNews.XYZ) Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) national working president Praful Patel on Wednesday said it was demoralising for party workers across five districts, particularly in western Maharashtra, that the party did not retain the Pune Graduates Constituency for the Legislative Council election scheduled for October 23.
Patel made the remarks a day after Maharashtra NCP president and Lok Sabha MP Sunil Tatkare termed the party's failure to secure the Pune Graduates Constituency within the ruling Mahayuti alliance a collective failure.
"It is certainly demoralising for our cadre in the five districts under which the Pune Graduates Constituency falls. The seat was with us, and we had won it on our symbol in the previous election," Patel said when asked about the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) contesting the seat instead of the NCP.
Patel said the decision was finalised in a meeting involving Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the two Deputy Chief Ministers, Eknath Shinde and Ajit Pawar.
"But now that the decision has been made, it will be contested as a Mahayuti seat," he said.
Patel's remarks come amid claims by party sources that no prior meeting was held with senior NCP leaders before discussions on the matter took place.
Party sources also pointed to the example of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who, despite the BJP announcing its candidate for the Pune Teachers' Constituency, allotted a ticket to Mangesh Chivate.
According to a senior party leader, speaking on condition of anonymity, several leaders had suggested that the NCP should avoid making any commitment regarding the Pune Graduates seat as it previously belonged to the party.
The leader claimed that negotiations involved only a limited number of leaders before the decision was finalised.
The source further said that Shinde had fielded his party worker despite pressure from the BJP and had kept the window for negotiations open.
On Tuesday, NCP state president Sunil Tatkare termed the development a collective failure.
"The Pune Graduates Constituency seat rightly belonged to the Nationalist Congress Party. However, it is a fact that the party did not get this seat. We must have fallen short somewhere, and this must be considered a collective failure," Tatkare had said on the last day for filing nominations for the Council elections.
United NCP's Arun Lad had won the seat on the Clock symbol six years ago.
His son, Sharad Lad, later joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and was reportedly interested in contesting the seat.
The BJP ultimately secured the seat and fielded Smita Jadhav as its candidate.
Meanwhile, senior BJP leader and Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil has been appointed the overall campaign chief for the Mahayuti alliance for both the Pune Graduates and Pune Teachers constituencies.
As far as the Maha Vikas Aghadi is concerned, its leaders, including Congress leader Satej Patil, are seeking to capitalise on cross-party rebellions within the Mahayuti to rally graduate voters across the Pune division, comprising Pune, Satara, Sangli, Solapur and Kolhapur districts.
The Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction issued AB forms to both Pradeep Mane and Harshada Deshmukh-Jadhav ahead of the final nomination deadline as a tactical move.
Source: IANS
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