After weeks of discord among the ruling Mahayuti partners over the Nashik Lok Sabha seat in north Maharashtra, cabinet Minister and senior Nationalist Congress Party (Ajit Pawar faction) leader Chhagan Bhujbal on Friday announced that he was withdrawing from the electoral fray as the delay in announcing a candidate for the seat was affecting the prospects of the ruling coalition.
Mr. Bhujbal’s cutting of the Gordian knot over Nashik paves the way for the seat to be claimed by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s ruling Shiv Sena faction, which currently holds the seat in form of two-term MP Hemant Godse, who has been eagerly gunning for a ticket to contest a third time.
After the tussle between the ruling BJP and CM Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction over the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha seat, Nashik was arguably the thorniest constituency in seat-sharing parleys between the Mahayuti allies, with both the Shinde Sena and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar’s NCP laying claim to it.
