MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena on Friday released its first list of 21 candidates for the Lok Sabha elections. While doing so, the party denied ticket to the MP who had slapped Air India employee but retained all others including the one who had forcefully fed Roti to a Muslim employee during Ramzan.
Ravindra Gaikwad is Shiv Sena MP from Osmanabad. He was the one who had beaten up a senior Air India officials over some anomalies in the services offered by the national carrier. When senior party leader Subhash Desai released the list of party candidates at a press conference here in Mumbai, it was revealed that the party has given a chance to Om Raje Nimbalkar from Osamanabad instead of Gaikwad.
Nimbalkar is the nephew of senior NCP leader from the district and former minister Padmasingh Patil, who was charged with killing Om’s father Pawanraje in 2006. Since then the family feud has turned into political rivalry and Om had been with the Shiv Sena, the party which he has even represented in the state assembly.
The two other new names on Shiv Sena’s list, which was not there in 2014, include Hemant Patil from Hingoli who is party’s MLA from Nanded and Dhairyasheel Mane, who is fielded from Hatkanangale – the seat contested by estranged NDA ally Raje Shetti in 2014. Dhairyasheel’s mother Nivedita was once NCP MP. But, has switched over to the Shiv Sena owing to local politics.
Shiv Sena hasn’t announced candidates for Palghar-ST and Satara seats. While Sena has taken the Palghar seat from the BJP during negotiations, there has been no official announcement regarding that. Candidates for these seats are expected to be announced on Sunday.
Union minister for heavy industries and public enterprise Anant Geete from Raigad and Rajan Vichare from Thane, who had forced a Muslim employee at Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi to eat half baked Roti served to him at the Sadan’s canteen during Ramzan, are among the 17 Sena MPs whom the party has decided to field once again.
List of Shiv Sena candidates:
1) Mumbai South - Arvind Sawant
2) Mumbai South Central - Rahul Shewale
3) Mumbai North West - Gajanan Kirtikar
4) Thane - Rajan Vichare
5) Kalyan - Shrikant Shinde
6) Raigad - Anant Geete
7) Ratnagiri Sindhudurg - Vinayak Raut
8) Kolhapur - Sanjay Mandalik
9) Hatkanangale - Dhairyashil Mane
10) Nashik - Hemant Godse
11) Shirdi - Sadashiv Lokhande
12) Shirur - Shivajirao Adhalrao-Patil
13) Aurangabad - Chandrakant Khaire
14) Yavatmal-Washim - Bhavna Gawli
15) Buldhana - Prataprao Jadhav
16) Ramtek - Krupal Tumane
17) Amravati- Anandrao Adsul
18) Parbhani - Sanjay Jadhav
19) Maval - Shrirang Barane
20) Hingoli - Hemant Patil
21) Osmanabad - Om Raje Nimbalkar