Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and party’s Kolhapur unit chief Sanjay Pawar will file their nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections on Thursday in the presence of chief minister Uddhav Thackeray. The polls for the six seats from Maharashtra are slated to be held on June 10.
“Sanjay Pawar and I will file our nomination papers for the Rajya Sabha elections at 1 pm on Thursday. The CM and some leaders of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi [MVA] will be present. So, there is no need for an official announcement [of Sena’s second candidate]. Pawar is finalised,” Raut told reporters on Wednesday.
The announcement of the second candidate by Sena has ruined the chances of Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati, who had announced to contest as an independent and sought votes from the MVA partners – Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress. The Sena wanted him to join the party, but Sambhajiraje did not want any political affiliation.
Certain sections of the Maratha community and supporters of the descendant of King Shivaji were unhappy with Sena for not supporting Sambhajiraje’s candidature for the Rajya Sabha elections. However, Sena said it respected the royal family of Kolhapur and offered a seat from its quota.
Raut said joining a political party was not new for the family as Sambhajiraje’s father Shahu Maharaj had joined Sena, while Sambhajiraje contested the Lok Sabha elections on an NCP ticket in 2009. “The people who are close to him must carefully understand the development in the last 15 days. We offered Sambhajiraje a seat from Sena’s quota as a respect for the lineage.”
The Sena MP, who is set to be renominated for a fourth Rajya Sabha term, said, “We were ready to give the 42 votes [the required number to get elected] to Sambhajiraje. If somebody thinks we betrayed Sambhajiraje then they can cobble up 42 votes and elect him as an independent. The seat belongs to Sena, the votes are of Sena, and we cannot give our votes to an independent candidate. We have certain restrictions.”
On asked whether the contest would be between Sena and Sambhajiraje, Raut said, “Absolutely not; we do not have the thought to go against Sambhajiraje. I don’t know anything about him at this point. We have the votes required to get two candidates elected.”
Meanwhile, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Devendra Fadnavis attempted to blame NCP chief Sharad Pawar and said the development in the last few days was designed to put Sambhajiraje in a fix. “Pawar saheb had first started this issue [indicating support to Sambhajiraje], and looking at the subsequent developments, it seems that it was deliberately done to put him [Sambhajiraj] in a spot.”
Sena said BJP was free to vote in favour of Sambhajiraje. “If BJP wants to get Sambhajiraje elected as an independent, they should give 42 votes to him.”