In a last-minute understanding reached between the two DF partners for the lok Sabha polls, the ruling Congress and NCP on Saturday evening decided to contest 27 and 21 seats respectively, as against the earlier 26:22 seat sharing tie-up hammered out earlier between them.
The DF partners worked out the changes in the seat-sharing pact between them at a meeting that NCP chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan of the Congress had in New Delhi earlier in the day.. Under the new deal, the ruling NCP has given up its Hathkanangale seat to the Congress. The NCP had lost Hathkanangale to the Swab-himani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetty in the 2009 lS polls. Shetty’s party is now part of BJP-led “Maha-Yuti” (grand alliance), comprising five parties.
In another major change, the ruling Congress and NCP have swapped Raigad and Hingoli seats. While the Congress will be fighting the Hingoli seat which was earlier with the Sharad Pawar-led party, the NCP will be fielding its candidate from the Raigad, a seat that was under the quota of the Sonia Gandhi-led party. Veteran Congress leader A R Antulay had lost Raigad seat to Shiv Sena’s nominee Anant Geete by a margin of 1.76 lakh votes in the 2009 polls, while the NCP’s Suryanta Patil was trounced by the Sena’s Subhash Wankhede by a margin of 73,834 votes in the same lS polls.
If the NCP has forsaken Hathkanangale seat to the Congress, it is because the Sharad Pawar-led party was not sure of snatching the seat from the influential farmer leader Raju Shetty. A bitter political rival of Sharad Pawar, Shetty is extremely popular among farmers in western Maharashtra that through his agitations. By giving up Hathkanangale seat, the NCP has avoided direct confrontation with Shetty.
On its part, the Congress will in likelihood field its former two-time MP Kalappa Awade from Hathkanangale constituency, which has Assembly segments both from Sangli and Kolhapur districts in Western Maharashtra and its All-India youth Congress leader Rajiv Satav, a close aide of party’s vice president Rahul Gandhi, from the swapped seat of Hingoli in Marathwada district.