Chavan, Thorat may be on Cong first list

Apart from the sitting MLAs, the Congress’s first list, which will be out on Friday, is likely to have names of former legislators and ministers.

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Some of the names expected on the list are of former chief ministers Ashok Chavan and Prithviraj Chavan, state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, former minister Shivajirao Moghe, former MLAs Kalyan Kale (Fulambri), Suresh Jethlia (Partur), Kailash Gorantyal (Jalna), Sadashiv Patil (Sangli), PM Patil, Nana Patole, Rishiraj Patil (Kolhapur South), Bhai Jagtap (Colaba), among others.

The party has also decided to field Prabhakar Panoskar from Sillod, the constituency held by Abdul Sattar, who recently joined the Shiv Sena. Rishiraj Patil is a Congress leader and former Bihar governor DY Patil’s grandson. Former minister Chandrakant Handore and Mumbai Youth Congress president Ganesh Yadav are among the probables from Sion-Koliwada and Chembur, respectively.

Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat said on Wednesday the nominees will be from among the 104 names finalised during the screening committee meetings over the past two weeks. Some of the names have been cleared by the central election committee headed by party’s interim president Sonia Gandhi.

“None of the sitting MLAs have been dropped. Apart from them, a few former MLAs may be nominated. Our second list may be announced next week. The remaining names may take some time as we are waiting for the ruling parties to take a decision on the alliance. We expect some leaders from the two ruling parties to switch loyalty on being denied a ticket,” said a senior party leader.

At least six Congress MLAs have resigned from the party to join either the BJP or Sena, including Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil, Harshavardhan Patil, Abdul Sattar, Bhausaheb Kamble, Jaykumar Gore and Kalidas Kolambkar. Nitesh Rane, party MLA from Kankavli, is expected to resign ahead of the elections.

Small parties want bigger share from Congress-NCP

Although the Congress and NCP have decided to give 38 seats to their smaller allies, those parties want at least 55 seats. They plan to hand over a combined list .

At least 15 parties have their own list of constituencies for joining the Democratic Front. “We have not been able to arrive at a conclusion despite several rounds of discussion. We will submit a list of 55 to 60 seats to the Congress and NCP, making it easier for discussion,” said Raju Shetti of Swabhimani Paksha.

The Congress has assigned different regions to senior leaders – Mukul Wasnik (Vidarbha), Avinash Pande (Mumbai), Rajni Patil (western and Konkan), RC Khuntia (northern Maharashtra) and Rajeev Satav (Marathwada).