MVA leaders with graduates candidate Harshada Jadhav and teachers candidate Jayant Asgaonkar
Party chief Uddhav Thackeray has already instructed local cadres to begin the campaign, according to Modi. Explaining the situation to TOI, Modi said, “The seat was left to our party. Mane said he withdrew at the request of his leader, minister Hasan Mushrif. Chavan told the media: “We will contest this election as a united Mahayuti While kickstarting the campaign in Pune for alliance candidates Smita Jadhav and Kaustubh Gawade.
Kolhapur : Shiv Sena (UBT) has declined to withdraw its candidate, Sunil Modi, who filed his nomination for Pune Graduates’ MLC seat. Friday marked the final deadline for withdrawal of nominations for graduates’ and teachers’ constituency MLC elections. A consensus could not be reached within Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). However, since a consensus could not be reached, we decided to contest the seat. I have spoken to our party chief, who has asked the organisation to support and campaign for me. Consequently, Pune Graduates’ seat will see a triangular fight. Harshada Jadhav is contesting as the official candidate of NCP (SP), while Dr Smita Jadhav is in the fray as the official candidate of BJP . Meanwhile, NCP rebel Pratap alias Bhaiya Mane withdrew his nomination. On the other hand, Mangesh Chivate, the candidate from Eknath Shinde ’s Shiv Sena, withdrew from the race for the Pune Teachers’ constituency. The BJP has nominated Kaustubh Gawade for the seat, who will now face a direct contest against the sitting MLC, Jayant Asgaonkar of Congress , who also hails from Kolhapur. Following his withdrawal, Chivate noted that in his party, the orders of party chief— deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde—are strictly followed, and he complied without questioning the underlying reasons. Meanwhile, campaigning has officially begun for the graduates’ constituency. NCP (SP) MLA Jayant Patil, Congress MLA Vishwajeet Kadam, and Sangli MP Vishal Patil have endorsed Harshada Jadhav, urging their supporters to connect with registered graduate voters and secure their support. Our senior leader Chandrakant Patil will hold a meeting with Mahayuti coordinators from western Maharashtra to iron out any differences and ensure workers from all three alliance parties campaign together. ”
Interestingly, Mane had earlier approached NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar for a ticket, but Pawar declined, stating he no longer trusted leaders from Kagal— the taluka in Kolhapur to which both Mushrif and Mane belong. State BJP president Ravindra Chavan claimed on Friday that the remaining internal differences within Mahayuti alliance over the Pune MLC seats will soon be resolved.