Solapur contest: Local versus outsider as cane harvester’s son turned MLA takes on 3-term legislator and daughter of veteran Congress leader

While welcoming the candidature of Satpute, Praniti Shinde wrote a letter and indicated that the BJP nominee is an outsider

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) finally ended its search for upcoming LS polls in the Solapur seat and announced late on Sunday that Malshiraj MLA Ram Satpute will contest against three-term MLA Praniti Shinde, who is the daughter of Congress veteran and ex-union minister Sushilkumar Shinde.

Praniti Shinde, a seasoned politician with three consecutive terms as MLA, presents a formidable challenge for the BJP candidate. (HT PHOTO)

While welcoming the candidature of Satpute, Praniti Shinde wrote a letter and indicated that the BJP nominee is an outsider. “Solapur city and district firmly believes in multilingualism, multiculturalism, and religious tolerance. Here, everyone gets the opportunity to express themselves freely. Whether he is local or from outside. As a representative of Solapur, I welcome you to Solapur.”

Countering the outsider narrative by Congress, Satpute questioned, “When Sushilkumar Shinde contested from many electoral constituencies, was he an outsider at that time?”

“My parents worked as cane cutters here. I will work as a ‘Sal Gadi’ (waged worker) for the people of Solapur,” he said.

Sushilkumar Shinde won his first election to the Maharashtra Assembly in 1974 from a reserved constituency Karmala, in his home district of Solapur and after that, he moved to Solapur North constituency.

Ram Satpute’s selection as the BJP candidate marked a long search for a formidable contender in the Solapur seat. Satpute, son of cane harvesters from Beed and known for his proximity to Devendra Fadnavis, had surprised everyone when he won the Malshiraj assembly seat in 2019. Earlier, Satpute, an engineering graduate, was an active ABVP member at Savitraibai Phule Pune University (SPPU).

Praniti, a seasoned politician with three consecutive terms as MLA, presents a formidable challenge for the BJP candidate. Her political lineage, coupled with her experience and strong grassroots support, makes her a strong candidate fielded by Congress, which is trying to wrest the constituency from the BJP.

In 2019, Sushil Kumar Shinde lost by a margin of over 1.55 lakh votes to Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) nominee and Lingayat Seer Jai Sidheshwar Shivacharya. What had contributed to Shinde’s defeat was the presence of Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi leader Prakash Ambedkar in the fray. Ambedkar had received 1,68,076 votes, mostly eating into the Dalit and Muslim vote bank, traditionally behind the Congress.

Solapur will go to polls in the second phase of the general election on May 7. The Solapur Lok Sabha seat is spread over Solapur North, Solapur South, Solapur Central, Akkalkot, Mohol and Pandharpur legislative assemblies.

Solapur Lok Sabha constituency has 17.02 lakh voters who will cast their votes at 1,751 polling stations set up in the constituency.