The Shiv Sena (Shinde)’s first list of candidates consists mainly of MLAs who rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in June 2022 or their family members.
One such loyalist is Sada Sarwankar, who has been renominated from Mahim. MNS chief Raj Thackeray announced his son Amit’s candidacy from Mahim earlier this week, and the Shinde Sena’s decision to field Sarwankar from there has raised eyebrows in the BJP.
Raj had supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha election and the BJP is expected to return the favour by not campaigning against Amit. So Shinde Sena’s decision has come as a surprise to the BJP.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde will be the candidate from Kopri Pachpakhadi in Thane, and Pratap Sarnaik will be the candidate from Owla Majiwada. Shinde will face Shiv Sena (UBT)’s Kedar Dighe, nephew of the late Anand Dighe, the CM’s mentor.
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The Shinde Sena has so far not reacted to the BJP’s first list of candidates. The saffron party has wrested five seats from it. These are the seats the Shinda Sena had contested in 2019 and lost.
Announcing the names of the candidates, the Shinde Sena has renominated almost all the ministers, including Uday Samant, Dada Bhuse, Shambhuraj Desai, Tanaji Sawant, Sanjay Rathod, Abdul Sattar, Gulabrao Patil and Deepak Kesarkar. It has accommodated family members of two MPs: Sandipan Bhumre and Ravindra Waikar. While Vilas, son of Bhumre, will contest from Paithan, Manisha Ravindra Waikar will be the party nominee from Jogeshwari (East).
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Shinde has nominated Suhas, son of late MLA Anil Babar, from Khanapur constituency in Sangli district, and announced the name of Amol Patil, son of MLA Chimanrao Patil, from Erandol.
The party has announced the name of Abhijit Adsul, son of former MP Anandrao Adsul, from Daryapur. It has also decided to field Ashish Jaiswal from Ramtek, who won last time as independent.