Sharad Pawar‘s victory rally at Satara after Diwali

After dramatic victory of NCP’s Shriniwas Patil against BJP’s Udayanraje Bhosale, Pawar had announced that he would go to Satara to personally

The victory rally planned on Friday by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Satara in the presence of party president Sharad Pawar has been postponed till after Diwali.

Soon after the dramatic victory of NCP’s Shriniwas Patil against BJP’s Udayanraje Bhosale in the by-polls to the Satara Lok Sabha constituency, Pawar had announced that he would go to Satara to personally on Friday to felicitate Patil on his victory. (HT FILE)

Soon after the dramatic victory of NCP’s Shriniwas Patil against BJP’s Udayanraje Bhosale in the by-polls to the Satara Lok Sabha constituency, Pawar had announced that he would go to Satara to personally on Friday to felicitate Patil on his victory.

However, on Friday, NCP spokesperson Ankush Kakade said the Satara rally had been postponed to after Diwali. “After meeting some victorious candidates, Pawar went home to Baramati. The newly-elected Satara MP Shriniwas Patil is coming to Baramati to meet him in the evening,” he said.

Satara had emerged as one of the high-profile constituencies which witnessed an intense electoral battle between the NCP and the BJP. The BJP had put in considerable efforts to secure the Satara seat with a rally addressed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as one of the highlights.

However, despite these efforts, Udayanraje, the 13th descendant of Chhatrapati Shivaji, lost the seat by a decisive margin of more than 87,000 votes to Patil who had resigned as Sikkim Governor to contest the polls.