Maharashtra assembly elections: ‘Right choice’ for Kothrud a riddle for NCP & Congress

PUNE: Alliance partners NCP and Congress might like to see their respective candidates in most of the Assembly constituencies in the district and the city for the October 21 battle of ballots, but not in Kothrud.
Carved out of the Shivajinagar constituency in 2009, Kothrud doesn’t seem to be either of the Opposition party’s preferred choice with both the NCP and the Congress struggling to find a suitable candidate to be in the poll fray.
Senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar on Sunday said his party would contest from Hadapsar, Wadgaonsheri, Parvati and Khadakwasla, while the Congress would field its nominees from Shivajinagar, Pune Cantonment and Kasba Peth. He said, “The Kothurd constituency has been left for an alliance party.”
“The NCP’s city leadership is yet to have talks with Ajit Pawar after his statement. Right now, we will not be able to give any final name or decide who will contest the election,” NCP city chief Chetan Tupe said.
The Congress, too, appeared indecisive about the candidature from Kothrud. “Our party has not yet claimed the seat. The candidature will be decided at a state-level meeting and keeping in mind the sentiment of the alliance members. The coalition has a number of parties and one of them will be selected,” said Ramesh Bagwe, the Congress’s city unit chief.
The two parties have decided to contest 125 seats each in the state, while the remaining 38 will be left for the other alliance partners. Among the alliance partners are the RPI (Kawade faction) and the Shetkari Kamgar Paksha.
Sources in the NCP and the Congress said though some party workers have shown interest to throw their hats in the Kothrud poll ring, but their confidence level was not very high. “Looking at the electoral history of the constituency, one can say that it is pro-saffron. The leaders from the alliance partners do not want to risk their position by contesting from the assembly seat. As a result, talks are on in both the camps on giving away the seat to the partner,” a source said.
Though the constituency came into being in 2009, parts of Baner, Balewadi and Pashan were subsequently merged into it.
The Shiv Sena had in 2009 won the seat when it fought the election with the BJP as an alliance partner. In the 2014 Assembly elections, the seat went to the BJP.
The NCP and the Congress had fought against each other in the 2014 Assembly elections. The Congress won 41 and the NCP finished with a seat more. The situation is different in the run-up to the 2019 Assembly elections, when both the parties have formed an alliance.