This is an archive article published on April 6, 2024
Sangli seat row widens rift between Congress, Sena (UBT); Raut issues warning
The Congress wants to field Vishal Patil, grandson of former chief minister Vasantdada Patil from the seat. The Sena has already fielded Chandrahar Patil, a popular wrestler, while the BJP’s sitting MP Sanjaykaka Patil is in the fray.
Congress MLA Vishwajeet Kadam. (FB/ Vishwajeet Kadam)
With the Shiv Sena (UBT) refusing to give up the Sangli Lok Sabha seat in Maharashtra, Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge is likely to speak to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray in a day or two to resolve the ongoing stalemate which has affected the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA)’s campaigning in the constituency. The Sena has warned that if the Sangli seat controversy is not settled, it will have a bearing on other seats in Maharashtra.
Congress MLA Vishwajeet Kadam, who had rushed to New Delhi on Friday, said he met Kharge and senior party leader K C Venugopal and urged them to resolve the issue at the earliest. “I met our party chief and explained the Congress’s position in Sangli to him. I told him about our months-long preparations to win the seat. Our party chief conceded that it was wrong on the part of the Sena to field candidates when Sangli has been a traditional Congress bastion,” he told The Indian Express on Saturday morning.
Kadam said Kharge was likely to speak to Uddhav Thackeray. “Our party chief has promised to take up the issue with the Sena head. I am hopeful that some communication will happen between the two so that the deadlock is resolved and we get into campaigning mode immediately,” he said.
Story continues below this ad
The Congress wants to field Vishal Patil, grandson of former chief minister Vasantdada Patil from the seat. The Sena has already fielded Chandrahar Patil, a popular wrestler, while the BJP’s sitting MP Sanjaykaka Patil is in the fray.
Sanjay Raut, who was in Sangli for a second consecutive day on Saturday, said he was hopeful the Sangli seat row will end soon. “Chandrahar Patil will be an MVA candidate. Neither the Sena nor the Congress want to keep the bitterness going. We are hopeful of the row ending soon,” he said.
However, he warned that if the Sangli seat row was not settled, it will have repercussions across Maharashtra. “If the Sangli seat acrimony continues, it will have a bearing across Maharashtra…We hope the Congress will not stretch the matter too far. Chandrahar Patil is our candidate but also of the MVA,” he said.
Raut, who arrived in Sangli to talk to Congress and NCP leaders on Friday, was unable to hold the meeting. “I could not meet Vishwajeet Kadam or Vishal Patil as both were away in New Delhi,” Raut told The Indian Express. Raut, however, said the Sena (UBT) will do everything possible to send Vishal Patil to Parliament. He stopped short of elaborating on whether the party intends to give him a Rajya Sabha nomination. Asked about it, Kadam said, “If the Sena even makes Vishal Patil an MLC, it will help.”
Story continues below this ad
Kadam had earlier said the Sena (UBT) never discussed contesting from Sangli during the MVA meetings. “Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj wanted to contest on our ticket from Kolhapur… but the Sena did not mention that if Kolhapur goes to Congress, then they’d want to contest the Sangli seat.”
Kadam said he will also meet other Congress leaders like Ramesh Chennithala and Mukul Wasnik on the issue. “We are doing everything possible to hold on to our traditional bastion. At the same time, I want to reiterate that I have full respect for Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray. However, he should not insist on the Sangli seat, which the Sena had not contested. The party is not fully prepared like the Congress, which has nurtured and nourished the constituency for years,” he said.
The Congress, meanwhile, has not been campaigning in Sangli. “Yes, we have stayed away from campaigning until the issue is resolved,” said Vikram Sawant, president of the Congress’s district unit.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
4 min read
