BJP wants to do an Amethi in Baramati: Ram Shinde

Ahead of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s tour, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed former minister Ram Shinde in charge of Baramati constituency

Ahead of finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman’s tour, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has appointed former minister Ram Shinde in charge of Baramati constituency.

Ram Shinde was the former minister of state for home from 2014 to 2019. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Sitharaman will visit Baramati Lok Sabha (LS) constituency from September 22 to September 24 as part of the BJP campaign. She will cover all assembly constituencies in Baramati during her three-day trip.

Shinde said, “No one believed that Gandhi family can be defeated, but BJP won in Amethi in 2019. The same will happen in Baramati.”

Interestingly, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar’s grandnephew Rohit Pawar won former Shinde’s constituency in Ahmednagar in the 2019 assembly elections.

Shinde is from the Dhangar caste and Baramati constituency has sizeable votes of this caste. By considering this, BJP has made him in charge of Baramati constituency. Shinde was the former minister of state for home from 2014 to 2019. He used to represent Shrigonda-Pathardi area in Ahmednagar district which is adjacent to Baramati taluka. Pawar’s grandson, Rohit Pawar defeated him here in the 2019 assembly elections.

The saffron party has launched the campaign to strengthen its organisation in 144 LS constituencies for the 2024 elections. Of the 144 constituencies, the party has identified 16 LS seats in Maharashtra with two of them - Baramati and Shirur - from Pune district.