The Shiv Sena on Friday denied party tickets to its veteran leader Manohar Joshi and former Union Minister Suresh Prabhu, re-nominated six of its sitting MPs and put up six new faces, as it released its first list of 15 candidates for the lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra.
Ignoring the claims for tickets from senior party leaders like Joshi and Prabhu, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray nominated fresh faces like Mumbai's civic body's Standing Committee chairman Rahul Shewale and Vinayak Raut in their place, as the candidates from Mumbai South Central and Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg respectively.
like in the case of Joshi, the Sena leadership denied party ticket to Prabhu, who was a Minister in the BJP-led NDA Government. A four-time Sena MP from Rajapur constituency in coastal Konkan region, Prabhu had unsuccessfully contested the 2009 lS polls from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency. The Sena has put up a new face Vinayak Raut as its candidate in place of Prabhu.
In its first list of 15 candidates, the Shiv Sena has re-nominated its sitting MPs Prataprao Jadhav (Buldhana) Anandrao Adsul (Amravati) Bhavna Gawli (Yavatmal-Washim), Chandrakant Khaire (Aurangabad), Anand Geete (Raigad) and Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil (Shirur). Of the total 48 lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra, the Shiv Sena is contesting 22 seats, while its senior partner BJP is contesting the remaining 26 seats. From its quota of seats, the Sena has given one seat each to the RPA(A) led by Ramdas Athavale (Satara) and Ravi Shetty-led Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (Hathkanangale).