Congress to field Sambhaji Brigade chief in Pune

The Congress ended its search for a Lok Sabha candidate for Pune on Saturday by inducting the chief of Maratha organisation Sambhaji Brigade, Pravin Gaikwad. The party also announced candidate for Raver in north Maharashtra which the NCP has given up ahead of nomination process. His candidature was to be announced late Saturday evening.

Maratha votebank
Gaikwad's entry into electoral politics is expected to create a social engineering in Pune where the BJP has wiped out the Congress and NCP in the polls that were held since 2014. Gaikwad's dominance in Maratha community, his anti-BJP/RSS thought and acceptance in other communities is expected to help his prospects against BJP's Brahmin candidate Girish Bapat, who unceremoniously replaced a Maratha, the BJP's sitting MP Anil Shirole. The battle will be labelled as Maratha versus Brahmin. In 2014, it was Maratha versus Maratha (Vishwajit Kadam of Congress).

A fiery orator who has won over people with his speeches, he is also an author/historian. Having interpreted the Maratha history by dismissing popular assumptions that the Maratha and other backward classes say were created with a purpose of putting a particular upper caste on the high pedestal of caste system, Gaikwad is all set to make the contest more interesting.

Vishal Patil for Sangli
As the Congress did not get Sangli back in its kitty from Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghtna and failed in checking a possibility of rebellion in its rank, Raju Shetti's farmers party (Swabhimani) has roped in Vishal Patil, a grandson of late Vasantdada Patil, former Congress CM, as its candidate. Shetti expects the move to motivate the Congress workers for supporting Vishal.

In Raver, where NCP could not find a suitable candidate to challenge BJP's Raksha Khadse, who is Eknath Khadse's daughter-in-law, the Congress has been asked to contest there. The Congress has fielded a veteran leader, Dr Ulhas Patil.

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