Pune: In a last ditch attempt, Congress leaders are trying their luck and sending letters to the High Command demanding tickets for the Pune Lok Sabha seat. Senior leader Ulhas Pawar, and other two leaders Gopal Tiwari and Balasaheb Shivarkar have sent letters to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) district Guardian Minister Girish Bapat and sitting MP Anil Shirole, who are aspirants for Pune Lok Sabha, have started meeting people.
All India Congress Committee member Gopal Tiwari, former Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) and senior leader Ulhas Pawar have also written letters to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
There is a growing speculation that MP Sanjay Kakade is likely to get candidature of Pune Lok Sabha seat instead of loyalist party leaders like Mohan Joshi, Abhay Chhajed and Arvind Shinde, who were shortlisted by Congress high command.
All three Congress leaders have requested in a letter that while selecting candidates, those who have been active in party’s activities consistently and have experience of working on important party posts should be selected.
Tiwari stated in the letter, “If party high command seeks opinion of senior and active party workers, they will get deserving candidates. We request you earnestly that party high command should consider the feelings of active party workers who have been with the party consistently since last so many years.
“The selection process of party’’s candidate should not be applied by common rule only since it will have impact on future of party,” Tiwari added.
Shivarkar said, “Considering all factors, whatever decision Rahul Gandhi and the party takes, we will remain with Congress as party workers.”
Meanwhile, all the party workers are awaiting the first list of BJP candidates for Lok Sabha elections. However, party has not released any list yet. On the other hand, Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress declared names of candidates for some Lok Sabha constituencies across the State.
In Pune, there are two major aspirants, district Guardian Minister Girish Bapat and sitting MP Anil Shirole. Some of the leaders are speaking privately that party has appointed Bapat as alliance coordinator for Western Maharashtra region. Bapat has gone out of Pune Lok Sabha contest but, Bapat is not in the mood to accept it. Hence, he has started the election campaign by meeting people. He had arranged a get-together for BJP-Sena corporators on Wednesday. After that, he organised another meet for some businessmen on Friday.
Sitting MP Anil Shirole is meeting different groups of people. However, while speaking to Sakal Times, he said, “I don’t need to take special efforts to meet people. It is my regular exercise to meet people. I have been meeting people as soon as I was elected an MP. Party will take a final decision about Pune Lok Sabha seat.”
