Former NCP MP from Kolhapur Nivedita Mane joins Shiv Sena

In a significant development, former member of parliament (MP) from Kolhapur district, Nivedita Mane, quit the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to join the Shiv Sena on Saturday.

Mane, a former MP from Hatkanangale-Ichalkaranji parliamentary constituency in western Maharashtra, joined the Shiv Sena in the presence of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray at Shiv Sena Bhavan at Dadar on Saturday.

Over a decade ago, Mane had quit the Sena to join the NCP. She was elected from Ichalkaranji on the NCP ticket in the 1999 Lok Sabha elections. In the 2004 elections, she was re-elected as NCP MP from the same constituency. However, in 2009 she lost to farmers’ leader Raju Shetti.

This time, the Congress-NCP has decided to forge an alliance of opposition parties that will also include Shetti’s party, Swabhiman Paksh. Both the parties have almost accepted Shetti’s candidature from the constituency. As such, an irked Mane parted ways with NCP in November-end along with her Dhairyashil, a former district council member. Dhairyashil is likely to contest the upcoming Lok Sabha election from the constituency on a Sena ticket.

The Mane family has clout in the region. Nivedita’s father-in-law Balasaheb Mane was an influential figure in Kolhapur district.