Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The chief minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena (BT) released the first list of nominees for Lok Sabha elections on Thursday. The list continues to maintain suspense as it sans the names of candidates from Aurangabad and Osmanabad Lok Sabha Constituencies. The list mentions the single name of sitting MP Hemant Patil from Hingoli.
It indicates that the tug-of-war between the Shinde group and BJP is underway as both are claiming for the local seat (Aurangabad Constituency).
As reported earlier, the Shinde group’s spokesperson MLA Sanjay Shirsat, on Sunday, had informed that the list (with name of candidate from Aurangabad) would be declared in a couple of days, but it did not happen on Thursday. The suspense is growing although there are three MLAs of Shinde-group in the district. It is believed that there could be some important reason for not announcing the name, it is said.
Meanwhile, the BJP is also leaving no stone unturned to grab the seat through negotiations. They are hopeful of getting the nomination at the last moment, said the party leaders.
Renaming issues emerged as obstructions
The Maha Yuti government had renamed the cities Osmanabad to Dharashiv and Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. However, the Shinde group is in awe as despite changing the names, the official names of the two Lok Sabha constituencies are the old ones only.
Meanwhile, it is said that if the Osmanabad seat is spared to either the Shinde group or Ajit Pawar’s NCP then only the Aurangabad seat may fall into the kitty of the BJP.