In a major boost to the Uddhav Thackeray led Sena UBT, Double Maharashtra Kesari Chandrahar Patil joined Shiv Sena (UBT) in the presence of former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, at Matoshree. Chandrahar, who is from originally Khanapur, had won the prestigious title in 2007 in Auraganbad and defended his title in 2008 at Kadegaon. However, he missed the hat-trick in 2009 at the event held at Pimpri-Chinchwad.
Earlier, Uddhav Thackeray’s announcement of Amol Kirtikar’s candidature from Mumbai North West constituency for the upcoming Lok Sabha polls exposed the chinks in the MVA armour, with Congress seething over the move. The Maha Vikas Aghadi is still holding meetings to decide the final seat-sharing formula for the Lok Sabha elections but Thackeray’s declaration has upset former Mumbai Congress chief and former Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam.
According to sources, Nirupam was anticipating that the Congress would get a word into the ongoing negotiations but Thackeray announced his party’s pick before the seats could be formally announced. Kirtikar is the son of incumbent MP Gajanan Kirtikar who joined the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena after the split in the party. However, Thackeray wanted to reward Amol for sticking by him after the split and hence announced his name.
Apart from Thackeray, Sharad Pawar has announced the ticket to his daughter Supriya Sule who represents Baramati constituency in the Lok Sabha. The Congress has announced the candidature of Shahu Maharaj from the Kolhapur Lok Sabha seat.