29 March,2024 05:00 AM IST | Mumbai | Dharmendra Jore
(From left) Dhairyasheel Mane (Hatkanangale), Hemant Patil (Hingoli), Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Raju Parve, Ramtek (SC), Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi-SC), Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur), Shrirang Barne (Maval), Rahul Shewale (South Central)
Relying on its sitting MPs, the Shinde Sena has set up straight fights with the rival Thackeray faction in most places for which it has announced the first list of candidates on Thursday. In Mumbai South-Central, the Party's group leader in Lok Sabha, Rahul Shewale, will lock horns with Sena-UBT's Anil Desai.
Among the other names on the list, all sitting MPs, are Raju Parve from Ramtek (SC), Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur), Sadashiv Lokhande (Shirdi-SC), Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana), Hemant Patil (Hingoli), Shrirang Barne (Maval), and Dhairyasheel Mane (Hatkanangale). Mandlik will take on the mighty MVA candidate Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj in Kolhapur. Sena-UBT has left this seat for the Congress because Shahu Maharaj's preferred party was the Congress.
In Buldhana, Jadhav will attempt to secure yet another term fighting against Sena-UBT's Narendra Khedekar. In Shirdi, which is reserved for the scheduled caste, Lokhande will face former MP Bhausaheb Wakhchaure. In Maval near Thane, Sanjog Waghere-Patil (Sena-UBT) will have an opponent in Shinde Sena's Shrirang Barne, who had beaten Ajit Pawar's elder son Parth with a good margin in 2019. In the Hingoli constituency, which spans across Vidarbha and Marathwada, Hemant Patil will face Thackeray Sena's Nagesh Patil Ashtikar.
The Shinde Sena has not announced the names for contentious segments. It is in a tussle with the BJP for Thane, Mumbai South, Mumbai North-West, Nashik, Palghar, and a few others. BJP has announced 24 candidates so far. The NCP-Ajit Pawar coalition has only made two names public. BJP is expected to secure 30 or more seats out of the state's 48, while the remaining would be divided between Shinde Sena and NCP, with the latter expected to receive the least.
