Adhalrao Patil all set to contest polls on NCP ticket from Shirur

Pune: Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Ajit Pawar on Wednesday informally told his party MLAs from Shirur Lok Sabha constituency to support Adhalrao Patil in the upcoming polls.

According to NCP Khed MLA Dilip Mohite, Ajit asked him to support Adhalrao’s candidature in the upcoming polls from Shirur. A known detractor of Adhalrao, Mohite after meeting Pawar appeared to have relented and announced to back him in the polls.

“Our differences were at the local level. However, now that Ajit Pawar has asked us to back his candidate, we will ensure he gets all the support from my constituency in Khed,” said Mohite.

In Shirur, Adhalrao is likely to lock horns with Amol Kolhe of Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SCP).

Adhalrao too made it clear on Wednesday that he will be joining Ajit’s NCP soon and would be the candidate from Mahayuti.

In the seat-sharing arrangement of the alliance, Shirur is with Ajit’s party.

Adhalrao said, “It is a secondary question that from which party I would contest. The important thing is that I will be Mahayuti’s candidate. All the three parties — BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP — have given me the green signal to contest the election.”

On resentment among some local leaders, Adhalrao said, “There is resentment between some local NCP and Sena leaders as we were traditional rivals. But the situation has changed after Ajit Dada joined the Mahayuti. The allegations made against each other are a thing of the past. The issues would be sorted soon.”