MUMBAI: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announces its list of five candidates for the Maharashtra Vidhan Parishad elections.
The elections are to be held on June 20.
Those given tickets include opposition leader in the legislative council Pravin Darekar, Professor Ram Shinde, Maharashtra state general secretary Shrikant Bharatiya, Uma Khapre and council deputy leader Prasad Lad.
Pankaja, Tawde names missing
Neither OBC leader Pankaja Munde nor former school education minister in the Devendra Fadnavis government Vinod Tawde finds a place in the list.
With 106 MLAs and support of seven allied MLAs the party can easily get four elected.
However, the fifth candidate Prasad Lad will now ensure there is an election between the BJP and the Maha Vikas Aghadi as it is now for the sixth Rajya Sabha seat.
Chandrakant Patil, state BJP president, said he and opposition leader in the assembly Fadnavis tried very hard for a seat for Munde, adding, “maybe the party has some future plans for her. She is also the party’s all India secretary."
"In the BJP all decisions are taken by the party and candidates for the Vidhan Sabha, Vidhan Parishad, Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha are declared by the Centre. As disciplined party workers, we follow instructions,” he said.
