Congress & NCP (SP) Release Names For 8 Vidarbha Seats

Nagpur: The Congress on Sunday announced five candidates for Vidarbha, while NCP (Sharad Pawar) did the same for three, completing their full quota for Nagpur district in the process. With all 12 seats in Nagpur district locked, MVA candidates are moving ahead with either filing of nomination or campaign.On Sunday, the Congress list included Umred, Amori, Ballarpur, Warora, and Chandrapur, while NCP (Sharad Pawar) nominated former minister Ramesh Bang from Hingna. Each nomination contained shades of influence of local leaders, especially in Chandrapur, where Congress now has two powerful factions headed by LoP Vijay Wadettiwar and local MP Pratibha Dhanorkar.Dhanorkar's brother, Pravin Kakade, got the ticket from Warora, a bastion which the Dhanorkar family has held on to since 2014. Back then, late Suresh Dhanorkar won it on a Shiv Sena ticket and resigned in 2019 when he successfully fought the Chandrapur Lok Sabha seat on a Congress ticket. The same year, his wife Pratibha Dhanorkar won the vacant Warora seat on a Congress ticket. After Suresh's death in 2023, the LS seat fell vacant, and it went to poll with all others earlier this year. Dhanorkar made a successful debut, which meant her Warora seat fell vacant. She was successful in landing the ticket for her brother Kakade.Wadettiwar, a local Congress strongman, ensured that the Ballarpur ticket went to Santosh Rawat, who is known to be his close aide. Congress' influence also came to fore in ensuring that the Chandrapur seat came to their party, instead of NCP (SP), which was the earlier plan. Now, Congress' former corporator Sanjay Padwekar will contest from the seat.Wadettiwar's influence extended beyond the district as well to Gadchiroli, as the Armori candidate Ramdas Masram is also known to be on good terms with him.For Umred, Congress was again successful in retaining the seat within the MVA as Shiv Sena (UBT) wanted to stake a claim. Though in the bargain, Congress may have lost Ramtek completely, as there seems to be no chance of Sena UBT relinquishing it at this stage.NCP (SP) nominated Ramesh Bang, a former minister, from Hingna, and MVA is hoping to turn the tide this time around. The party also announced the names of Gayak Patni from Karanja, and Atul Wandile from Hinganghat.