Maharashtra Assembly election: BJP gives one seat each to four smaller allies, including Ramdas Athawale's RPI

Ramdas Athawale`s RPI will fight from the Kalina constituency. File pic

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has given one seat each to four smaller allies.

While Republican Party of India (Athawale) will field a candidate from Mumbai's Kalina, the Yuva Swabhiman Party has got the Badnera seat in Amravati. Legislator Ravi Rana is likely to contest from the seat.

Mahadev Jankar's Rashtriya Samaj Paksh has been given an offer to fight from the Gangakhed seat in Parbhani district. However, it is clear if Jankar, who had decided to fight solo, has accepted the offer. BJP has given the Shahuwadi (Kolhapur district) seat to Vinay Kore's Jan Surajya Shakti.

Meanwhile, the BJP has fielded Santuk Marotrao Hambarde as its candidate for the Nanded Lok Sabha by-election. The seat became vacant after sitting Member of Parliament Vasantrao Chavan passed away in August.

Ajit slams Sharad Pawar for fielding Yugendra, creating family discord

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister (CM) Ajit Pawar on Monday hit out at NCP (SP) supremo and his uncle Sharad for making the Baramati Assembly poll fight a family affair and asserted that it takes generations for family bonds to be intact and just a moment for them to split.

Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) has fielded Yugendra, the son of Pawar's brother Srinivas, from Baramati. The Deputy CM is a seven-time Member of Legislative Assembly from the seat.

Pawar also said Yugendra's candidature comes despite his mother (and Yugendra's grandmother) voicing her opposition to such a contest.

Addressing a rally after filing his nomination papers during the day, the Deputy CM emphasised that he had accepted his mistake of fielding his wife Sunetra against sitting Baramati Member of Parliament (MP) and Sharad's daughter Supriya Sule in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

"Now tell me who has committed a mistake? I was supposed to fill the (nomination) form first. My mother said don't fill the form against Dada. Whatever is happening is not appropriate. The elders in the family should have advised (Sharad Pawar) on this," Pawar said.

"Who asked him (Yugendra) to fill the form, it was saheb (Sharad Pawar). Does that mean he (Sharad Pawar) has created a split in the Tatyasaheb's family (Tatyasaheb is Ajit Pawar's father Anantrao Pawar? Politics is being brought to this level. It takes generations for family bonds to be intact, but a split can happen in no time," he asserted.

When an emotional Pawar said development must take front seat and such quarrels should be within the four walls of a house, the huge crowd that had gathered at the rally cheered and exhorted him to continue fighting, news agency PTI reported.

(With PTI inputs)