MUMBAI/PUNE: Despite ongoing talks between the Congress and National Congress Party (NCP) over poll seat arrangements, some aspirants to the Lok Sabha seats from the Congress have called upon the party to contest 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state alone. Some of the aspirants were critical of the incumbent Congress MPs whom they described as “worthless” and also urged party leaders not to allot tickets to those who have defected to the Congress from other political parties.
Interviews of 10 aspirants from Vidarbha and Marathwada region were conducted by the state Congress poll selection panel at the Tilak Bhavan in Mumbai. During the last Lok Sabha polls Vilas Muttemwar was the only Congress candidate to win the polls in Vidarbha and Marathwada region.
Father and son — Datta and Sagar Meghe — were present at the interview. They want to contest for the Wardha Lok Sabha seat. Haribhau Rathod, an incumbent Congress MP from Yavatmal district, also wants to contest for the Wardha seat. Rathod has recently joined the Congress after quitting Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Former MP Uttamrao Patil is also in the run for the Wardha seat.
For the Aurangabad seat, seven Congress candidates have asked for party tickets. However, one of the aspirants said that if former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh contests as a candidate from here, all other candidates of Congress would withdraw and help Deshmukh win the seat.
The selection panel interviewed 32 aspirants from Deshmukh’s home town Latur in Marathwada region.
Meanwhile as the Shiv Sena had claimed the South Mumbai and Kalyan seats in the seat-sharing agreement with the BJP, Poonam Mahajan, the daughter of late BJP leader Pramod Mahajan is being considered for the Beed constituency in Marathwada. The Beed Lok Sabha seat is said to be favorable to the BJP as Gopinsyh Munde, the BJP national general secretary and maternal uncle of Mahajan is said to have excellent relations with the NCP party cadre there.
In another development, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray taking potshots at the NCP for projecting their leader Sharad Pawar as their prime ministerial candidate said on Monday night that the talk of Pawar's candidature the post of prime minister was only in Maharashtra. "Pawar has no support outside the state," he said.
