Lok Sabha elections 2019: Nitin Gadkari files nomination from Nagpur

Before leaving for the collectorate, Gadkari and chief minister Fadnavis performed puja at the former’s Ramnagar residence and then left for the collector’s office with thousands of supporters and party workers.

Amidst massive fanfare and support, the union minister for transport and shipping, Nitin Gadkari, filed his nomination papers before the district returning officer, Ashwin Mudgal, in presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and the guardian minister for Nagpur district, Chandrashekhar Bawankule.

Supporters of Gadkari, party workers, several leaders from dalit, tribal and minority communities, all the sitting BJP MLAs, the city mayor Nanda Jichkar and the zilla parishad president Nisha Savarkar from Nagpur district were gathered outside the collector’s office when Gadkari filed his nomination. (HT Photo)

Before leaving for the collectorate, Gadkari and chief minister Fadnavis performed puja at the former’s Ramnagar residence and then left for the collector’s office with thousands of supporters and party workers.

Supporters of Gadkari, party workers, several leaders from dalit, tribal and minority communities, all the sitting BJP MLAs, the city mayor Nanda Jichkar and the zilla parishad president Nisha Savarkar from Nagpur district were gathered outside the collector’s office when Gadkari filed his nomination.

A blue-eyed boy of the RSS, Gadkari had defeated veteran Congress leader Vilas Muttemwar with a huge margin of over three lakh votes in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections. A student leader, Gadkari rose to become Maharashtra’s PWD minister, the state BJP president, national president of the party and then a union minister in the Narendra Modi cabinet.

His Congress rival, Nana Patole, who resigned from the BJP and Lok Sabha membership one year ago, also filed his nominations on Monday.