Ajit Pawar steps in to quell discontent against BJP's nominee in Madha seat

Mumbai: Against the backdrop of a rift between the MahaYuti partners over the Madha Lok Sabha seat from Western Maharashtra, the NCP Chief Ajit Pawar on Friday held a marathon meeting with the former state legislative council chairman Ramraje Nimbalkar and other leaders from Phaltan assembly segment.

He asked them to wholeheartedly work for the BJP nominee Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar.

Pawar had to intervene as Ramraje Nimbalkar and other party leaders had expressed their reservations over the nomination of Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar.

A senior NCP leader said that party Chief Ajit Pawar has given clear instructions to the party leaders that they will have to work for the BJP nominee from Madha, adding that everything has been sorted out.

Friday’s meeting took place a day after NCP (SP) Chief Sharad Pawar declared that Dhairyasheel Mohite-Patil, a nephew of former minister and heavyweight Vijaysinh Mohite-Patil from Akluj in Solapur district will join his party.

The Mohite-Patil’s had joined the BJP in 2019 and Dhairyasheel is expected to be the opposition’s nominee from the Madha constituency.

BJP has renominated the sitting MP Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar from Madha despite opposition from various factions within the MahaYuti. With the Mohite-Patil family members switching back to Sharad Pawar's party, speculations are made that these factions may silently work against the BJP candidate.

Realising that this may hamper the winning prospects of Ranjitsinh Nimbalkar, the BJP legislators Jaykumar Gore and Rahul Kul on Friday visited BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in Nagpur.

“Except for a few people within the NCP, everybody else is working for the BJP candidate. We are going to fight and we are going to win. It does not matter if anybody comes with us or not,” said Gore.

Nimbalkar while accepting disagreement within the ruling alliance said that there would be another meeting at the higher level.

“Issues in politics are not solved by the push of a single button. It can be solved through discussion and negotiations,” said Nimbalkar.