Sena postpones declaring its candidacy, upsetting BJP

Nashik: The State BJP seems to be angry with Shiv Sena, its coalition partner, for taking a long time to publicly announce a candidate for the Nashik Lok Sabha seat, which is important to north Maharashtra.

The excessive delay by Shiv Sena in announcing a candidate for the Nashik seat has angered state BJP officials. A top state BJP official said, “It is the chief minister’s and Shiv Sena president Eknath Shinde’s responsibility to explain why there has been a delay in announcing a candidate for a significant north Maharashtra seat.

“We have ceased debating the candidacy issue with the CM; our senior state bureaucrats used to debate it with the Sena for the Nashik seat.

His aspirations for the Nashik seat are unknown to us,” the official said. Despite the BJP and NCP’s eagerness to fight for the Nashik seat, the Sena resisted, claiming that the party has been winning the seat since 2014. The chief minister of Sambhajinagar said a few days ago that his party would be running for the Nashik seat.

Sena has not yet revealed the identity of its candidate, however, which has caused disquiet among Mahayuti’s other two coalition partners.

Because of the delay in naming the nominee, Mahayuti would have a difficult task keeping the Nashik seat. When it comes to campaigning, Rajabhau Waje, the MVA candidate and UBT employee running for the Nashik seat, has already seized a significant lead. The Sena leadership has to realize how urgent it is to announce a candidate. The official said that nominations for the Nashik seat are currently being filed.

Speaking to TOI, Shiv Sena spokesman and MLA Sanjay Shirsat said that the party has chosen to provide Hemant Godse with the ticket since he has been elected to the seat the past two times.

“The party will shortly release an official statement. We have no doubts that Mahayuti would emerge victorious in the Nashik seat,” he said.