The Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), a component of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, has fielded their candidate from the Raver Lok Sabha constituency. However, due to strong displeasure within the party regarding that candidate, Jayant Patil, Maharashtra state president of NCP (SP), visited Jalgaon on Saturday to resolve the discontent. Later, it was said that he would discuss this with party leader Sharad Pawar.
NCP had decided to field veteran leader Eknath Khadse against BJP candidate Raksha Khadse in the Raver Lok Sabha constituency. However, Khadse refused to contest the election citing his health and later indicated that he would join the BJP. Due to this, NCP was left without a strong candidate in Raver. In the meantime, former Bhusawal MLA Santosh Chaudhary had shown readiness to contest the election. Following this, the party supremo Sharad Pawar had asked him to start preparations. However, owing to the situation, NCP (SP) delayed the announcement of the official candidature and finally announced the candidacy of Shriram Patil.
As soon as the process of filing nominations for Raver and Jalgaon constituencies began on Thursday, it became clear that Santosh Choudhary was going to rebel in Raver by entering the fray as an independent candidate. The NCP (SP) was shaken, leading to state president Jayant Patil being sent to Jalgaon immediately to settle the differences.
Shriram Patil is not in touch with the district leaders of the NCP (SP), and the party officials are upset because he started campaigning independently. When Jayant Patil visited Jalgaon on Saturday, Shriram Patil was not present to welcome him. He reached the meeting conveyed by Patil only towards the end. Santosh Chaudhary clearly expressed his displeasure in the meeting. The office-bearers of the party also expressed their discontent with Shriram Patil's election campaigning process. Following this, Jayant Patil left for Mumbai without making any public comment on this.
While it is expected that the NCP (SP) will give BJP a tough fight in Raver, it is likely that this will be a one-sided fight due to internal discontent within the NCP (SP).
