Mumbai: The first MLA to return from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to the founder Sharad Pawar’s fold has been rewarded with a Lok Sabha ticket and Nilesh Lanke is all set to contest the Ahmednagar seat from NCP (SP).
The NCP (SP) on Saturday declared the first list of candidates in which Lanke’s name figures.
The four other candidates are Supriya Sule (Baramati), Dr Amol Kolhe (Shirur), Bhaskar Bagare (Dindori-ST) and Amar Kale (Wardha).
Lanke was elected as an MLA from Parner in Ahmednagar district in the 2019 Vidhan Sabha elections.
After the June-July rebellion in the 25-year-old NCP, Lanke preferred to be with Ajit Pawar, who switched to the BJP-led NDA-camp to become the Deputy Chief Minister for the fifth time.
“You elected me for five years and I want to apologize that I am resigning from the position four months before the polls…I will now work under the leadership of Pawar Saheb,” Lanke said in an emotional address.
Lanke would be facing BJP’s sitting MP Dr Sujoy Vikhe-Patil. A neurosurgeon, Dr Sujoy is the son of BJP minister Radhakrishna Vikhe-Patil and grandson of late Balasaheb Vikhe-Patil, who was a minister in the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-government. The Vikhe-Patils and Pawars are archrivals in state politics.
Kale, who would contest from Wardha, is a former Congress MLA from Arvi. After discussions, Pawar staked claim on the Wardha seat which was earlier with the Congress.
Sule and Dr Kolhe are sitting MPs.
Published 30 March 2024, 13:42 IST