In the midst of a verbal clash between members of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Pune regarding the upcoming Lok Sabha by-poll election, Arvind Shinde, the chief of the Congress party in the city, has firmly stated that the Congress will not give up the Lok Sabha seat in Pune.
During a conversation with the media in Pune, he emphasized that Pune district has four Lok Sabha constituencies, but the Congress only contests for one seat, which is the Pune city seat. Shinde declared that they will continue to fight for this seat and there will be no compromise on their stance.
Arvind Shinde responded to NCP chief Prashant Jagtap's claim about their party's strength in the constituency by pointing out some important facts. Shinde mentioned that if Jagtap believes that NCP's strength lies in having 40 corporators, he should consider that certain areas like Hadapsar fall under the Shirur constituency, and Khadakwasla falls under the Baramati constituency.
Shinde advised Jagtap to assess the power of his party in the remaining six assembly constituencies and also take into account the percentage of votes that Congress has received in those areas. By doing so, Jagtap would understand the strength of the Congress party in the Lok Sabha constituency.
In recent developments, leaders from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), such as Ajit Pawar and Prashant Jagtap, have shown their inclination towards participating in the upcoming by-poll election for the Pune Lok Sabha seat.
The vacancy for this seat arose following the unfortunate passing of the current BJP Member of Parliament, Girish Bapat. It is anticipated that the announcement for the Pune constituency's by-poll election will be made shortly.
As per the seat sharing agreement between the Congress and the NCP in the previous election, the Pune city Lok Sabha seat was allocated to the Congress party. Nonetheless, leaders from the NCP in the city have asserted that their party possesses significant influence in Pune. They are requesting the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance to permit them to contest the upcoming election for this seat.