Two-time Shiv Sena MP Shrirang Barne has defeated Sanjog Waghere of the Shiv Sena (UBT) in Maval Lok Sabha seat. He has scored hat-trick form the seat.
Despite opposition from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena had renominated Shrirang Barne from the Maval constituency for the Lok Sabha elections.
Who is Shrirang Barne?
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Barne defeated Ajit Pawar’s son Parth by over two lakh votes. Beginning his political journey in 1997 as a corporator in the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC), Barne started in the Congress party. He served as chairman of the standing committee of the PCMC from 1999 to 2000 and was also president of the Pimpri-Chinchwad unit of Congress from 2002 to 2007. In 2009, he joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Uddhav Thackeray. In 2012, he was elected as Sena's group leader in PCMC. Later in 2014, the 59-year-old leader was given the chance to contest the Lok Sabha polls and emerged victorious by triumphing over PWP candidate Laxman Jagtap and NCP nominee Rahul Narvekar. After the split in the Sena, Barne joined the Eknath Shinde-led faction.
On the other hand, Waghere transitioned to Shiv Sena (UBT) from Ajit Pawar's NCP in December last year. Hailing from Pimpri Gaon, Waghere served as a three-time corporator of the PCMC and formerly held the mayoral position in the industrial city. Previously, Waghere held the role of the NCP's Pimpri-Chinchwad unit president. Post the party's division, he maintained a low-profile stance and reduced his political engagements, subsequently aligning himself with the Ajit Pawar-led faction. With a family deeply entrenched in politics, Waghere's wife, Sunita Waghere, secured two terms as a corporator and chaired the PCMC standing committee. Furthermore, his father, Bhiku-Patil Waghere, served as the mayor of PCMC.
