E-Paper
Cong likely to nominate Praniti Shinde for Solapur LS seat
Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday disclosed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had approached his daughter with an offer to represent their party from Solapur
Praniti Shinde, daughter of veteran Congress leader and former Maharashtra chief minister Sushil Kumar Shinde, is most likely to be the party candidate from Solapur for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Sushil Kumar Shinde on Tuesday disclosed that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had approached his daughter with an offer to represent their party from Solapur. However, Praniti stood resolute in her allegiance to the Congress and will be the party nominee for LS polls.
“We have to once again bring Solapur’s name on the national level by sending Praniti to Delhi. She is an intelligent person with command over various languages,” he said.
Later, speaking to the media, Shinde senior said, “They (BJP) tried to convince Praniti, but she decided to stay with the Gandhi-Nehru’s Congress.”
Solapur, a key constituency in western Maharashtra, holds a significant political importance, and Praniti’s decision to contest on the Congress ticket is expected to create a significant challenge for the BJP that is struggling to identify a popular face for the constituency.
After the reports of pre-election survey, the BJP decided to replace sitting MP Jai Siddheshwar Shivacharya Swami with another candidate as he is facing probe for allegedly submitting a fake caste certificate.
The caste certificate of Swami was declared invalid by a district caste validity committee, followed by the Solapur district police filing a case of cheating and forgery against the Lingayat seer last year.
As the election season heats up, all eyes will be on the Solapur constituency. Local BJP leaders, including former Rajya Sabha MP Amar Sable, MLA Ram Satpute, Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) chairman Milind Kamble and former LS MP Sharad Bansode are among the hopefuls for the ticket here.
